WASHINGTON - U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump could feel some pain from a new line of political ads from his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton's team depicting him as a racist, at a time when he is trying to catch up in the polls.
Clinton's campaign this week put out a new TV advertisement claiming that among Trump's supporters are the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) -- a white supremacist group that has killed, terrorized and intimidated blacks and other minorities in the United States, although the group has very little power now compared to when it was in its heyday several decades ago.
While Trump has no ties to white supremacists, the ad makes the case that they support him and that if he wins they will run the country.
Experts said the ads could hurt Trump and damage his campaign, which is just three months from the November elections.
"They are damaging for Trump because they draw on things he or his campaign have done to paint a picture of someone who is completely insensitive to the concerns of the minority community," Darrell West, vice president and director of governance studies of the Brookings Institution, told Xinhua.
The ads not only reinforce points already made that Trump is rude and impolite, but also take this critique several steps further by labeling him a racist, West said.
For his part, Trump blasted the ads as untrue, while using social media to refute Clinton's attacks. (Xinhua)