Fayetteville Trump, Epstein billboards now popping up throughout NC. What are they about?
Myron B. PittsYou may have seen around the city an electronic billboard with a young Donald Trump and the late Jeffrey Epstein — yes that’s right, the future 45th president of the United States and the convicted sex trafficker.
The billboards have popped up at the intersection of Skibo and Raeford roads; the intersection of Raeford and Strickland Bridge roads; and in Spring Lake. Words in the lower right hand corner appear to read, “Paid for by Protect Children LLC.”
I have not found any information yet as to who or what group is behind the signs, but social media suggests they have been spread wide. Reddit users have spotted the signs in Asheville, Winston-Salem, Durham, Jacksonville, Wilmington, Carolina Beach, Savannah and near Augusta National Golf Course.
“Anyone else seen this?” one Reddit user on the Winston-Salem site asked in a post titled, “Strange Billboard on 52.” “Anyone know why someone decided to put that up in the middle of Winston?”
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An online attack in the real world
Now, about the content of the billboards.
Trump faces 91 criminal charges in several jurisdictions. He owes more than $83 million in a civil case brought against him by E. Jean Carroll, in which a jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation.
But one thing Trump does not face is any charge related to his relationship with Epstein, who hung himself in a Manhattan jail in 2019, according to the official account.
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The picture of them together is authentic and snapped in 1997 at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. It has made the rounds for some years now and is a favorite of anti-Trumpers online.
The question for me is whether this social media-type attack will play in the real world?
Guilt by association
The mystery rollout of the billboards has the feel of a guerilla marketing campaign. But the political attack it showcases is strictly old school: Guilt by association.
I don’t really know if the campaign works in North Carolina. Hard to say.
Whatever the funding source turns out to be, some folks may dismiss it as outsiders meddling in our vote.
There’s also some truth to the idea that all the negative information about Trump is already baked into the cake. Trump really has not changed. He is the same as he ever was since he floated down that escalator in 2015 to launch his first presidential campaign.
North Carolina is tight race for Trump, Biden
On the other hand.
North Carolina could be close again. Money will pour in from both sides again and with it will come more attack ads. It is not hard to envision a guilt-by-association campaign against Biden based on his son Hunter, like the Epstein billboards against Trump.
It is also useful to remember that in the last matchup between Trump and Biden in North Carolina, Trump beat him by just 1.3%.
If a negative ad campaign shifts just a few hundred or a few thousand votes, it can tilt this state, and also the nation.
Opinion Editor Myron B. Pitts can be reached at mpitts@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3559.