Evangelicals for Harris uses Billy Graham footage to lambaste Trump’s behavior

Group reported to be spending more than $1 million to distribute ad

Image from Evangelicals for Harris video ad.

Evangelicals for Harris, a political action committee operating independently of Kamala Harris’s official presidential campaign, has released a television ad prominently featuring the late evangelist Billy Graham reading from the Bible.

The Christian Post, the most prominent online news site directed at evangelical Christians, reported that the PAC is spending more than $1 million to distribute the ad. The Post did not provide a source for the dollar figure.

Evangelicals for Harris first announced the ad on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday.

The ad features clips of Graham speaking at one of his crusades and quoting 2 Timothy 3:1-5 interspersed with news clips of or about Trump. The use of the clips suggest that Donald Trump’s behavior conflicts with that advocated by the Bible passage. The opening lines of the ad are:

Graham: But you must realize that in the last days, the times will be full of danger. Men will become utterly self-centered and greedy for money.

Trump: My whole life I’ve been greedy, greedy, greedy. I grabbed all the money I could get. I’m so greedy.

Graham: They will be proud and abusive.

Fox newscaster Megyn Kelly questioning Trump: You’ve called women you don’t like fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals.

The ad goes on to feature clips of Trump taking proclaiming himself as “the chosen one” and talking about how he kisses women without their consent. It also includes a clip of Trump saying he is not sure he has ever asked God for forgiveness.

The clips end with Graham quoting 2 Timothy 3:5: “Keep clear of people like that.”

The clips of Graham appear to come from one of his crusades, probably during the late 1980s. Graham died in 2018.

Use of the Graham clips in political ads is probably legal under U.S. law, which provides for “fair use” of copyrighted material.

This is apparently the second time that Evangelicals for Harris has used Billy Graham’s image in one of its ads. When the group used TV images of him in August, Billy Graham’s son Franklin Graham called that ad deceptive:

They are trying to mislead people. Maybe they don’t know that my father appreciated the conservative values and policies of President @realDonaldTrump in 2016, and if he were alive today, my father’s views and opinions would not have changed.

According to news accounts, Evangelicals for Harris is headed by the Rev. Jim Ball, known in the past for his advocacy of environmental stewardship. The group was formerly known as Evangelicals for Biden.

Although its new ad is unequivocally negative in its approach, Evangelicals for Harris takes a generally positive approach on its website. Its home page features a quote from Harris taking about her faith:

I can trace my belief in the importance of public service back to learning the parable of the good Samaritan and other biblical teachings about looking out for our neighbors — and understanding that our neighbors aren’t just those who live in our ZIP code, but include the stranger, too.