A deep-pocketed conservative organization with a long list of Republican scalps said on Tuesday that it would begin a major ad campaign aimed at
Donald J. Trump in an effort to weaken him among voters who have propelled him to the top of many polls of of the Republican presidential field.
The group,
Club for Growth, is focusing its considerable firepower first on Iowa, where Mr. Trump has leapt to a significant lead over more conventionally credentialed Republican candidates, panicking Republican leaders. The group will spend $1 million on advertising in the state starting on Thursday, with plans for further spending in the weeks ahead, the club’s president, David M. McIntosh, announced at a news conference in Washington on Tuesday.
Through its “
super PAC,” the club will focus on the real estate developer’s positions on taxes, health care, trade and even eminent domain — issues on which Mr. Trump may diverge sharply from conservatives. The ads will feature past clips of Mr. Trump voicing his more liberal positions on those issues, according to the announcement.
“Donald Trump is the worst Republican candidate on economic issues,” Mr. McIntosh said in a statement. “It’s astonishing that he’s even running as a Republican.”
The announcement marks the first serious and sustained attempt to defang Mr. Trump by any moneyed force in the
Republican Party. It is a test Mr. Trump, for all his apparent strength, has yet to face.
The new effort comes on the eve of the second major Republican debate, after months in which Mr. Trump has seemed to float above virtually any criticism from fellow party members, fueling fears that his coarse comments about women and immigrants will undercut the party’s carefully calibrated effort to broaden its appeal for 2016.
The Club for Growth’s spending will also thrust it into an unusual role. For years, the group has battled with the Republican establishment, pouring millions of dollars into fierce campaigns against incumbent lawmakers deemed unreliable on economic issues. Now the group is now riding to the rescue, investing serious money against Mr. Trump at a time when his rivals have offered only YouTube videos and occasional barbs on the campaign trail.
