On the Screen

The ad alternates between showing Donald J. Trump effusively praising Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson of North Carolina, the Republican candidate for governor, and Mr. Robinson uttering several polarizing statements.

Mr. Trump calling Mr. Robinson “an unbelievable lieutenant governor” is juxtaposed with Mr. Robinson declaring, “For me there is no compromise on abortion.”

Mr. Trump saying, “I think you’re better than Martin Luther King” is followed by Mr. Robinson speaking of banning abortions in North Carolina with no exceptions, and angrily suggesting, in a close-up clip addressing the camera, that abortions are the fault of women who “weren’t responsible enough to keep your skirt down.”

Mr. Trump’s praise for Mr. Robinson is captioned on the screen, as minor piano chords play.

As Mr. Trump is shown, in slow motion, greeting Mr. Robinson onstage at a rally, a deep-voiced narrator intones: “Donald Trump and Mark Robinson: They’re both wrong for North Carolina.”

The Script

Trump: “And he’s been an unbelievable lieutenant governor, Mark Robinson.”

Robinson: “For me, there’s no compromise on abortion.”

Trump: “I think you’re better than Martin Luther King.”

Robinson: “We could pass a bill saying you can’t have an abortion in North Carolina for any reason.”

Robinson: “Abortion in this country is about killing a child because you weren’t responsible enough to keep your skirt down.”

Trump: “I’ve been with him a lot, I’ve gotten to know him, and he’s outstanding.”

Narrator: “Donald Trump and Mark Robinson: They’re both wrong for North Carolina.”

Accuracy

The ad features direct quotations from both candidates.

The Takeaway

Much of the strategy behind this ad relates to its context. On the surface, it ties Mr. Trump to some of Mr. Robinson’s more extreme comments about abortion, one of Ms. Harris’s strongest issues. But running the ad on Friday, as Mr. Robinson faced growing pressure to quit the race over reports that he had once defended slavery and called himself a “Black Nazi” and a “perv” on a pornographic forum, was a not-so-subtle move to saddle Mr. Trump with Mr. Robinson’s entire set of political baggage at once.