David Zurawik: Presidential campaign messaging war: It's ugly and going to get worse

If you are concerned about the way smears, lies, character assassination and disinformation have polluted the conversation of American civic life, brace yourself. It’s going to get worse starting this week as Team Trump punches back on Facebook and YouTube against the digital Democratic National Convention and the ticket of former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris.

The New York Times was the first to report an advertising buy made by the president’s campaign team to saturate Facebook, YouTube and other digital sites with pro-Trump, anti-Biden content. The tab could run as high as $10 million for an effort that will include taking over the banner on the YouTube homepage and forcing YouTube users to wade through pre-roll, Trump-bought content before getting to play the video they came to see. That campaign started Tuesday, the second day of the convention, and will run for 96 hours, according to the newspaper.

But you didn’t have to wait until Tuesday to see what Team Trump would be saying on Facebook and YouTube. A crush of ads paid for by Donald Trump for President, Inc. appeared on Facebook over the weekend.

“Joe Biden MEANS 11 MILLION Illegal Immigrants competing for American jobs. They will all be eligible for FREE health care, Social Security and Medicare. America CANNOT afford Joe Biden,” one ad begins.

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