Selling Michigan Central Station to Ford Motor Co. garnered more goodwill for the Moroun family than they've enjoyed in . . . probably ever. Certainly since family patriarch Manuel Moroun started throwing elbows in his bid to build a second bridge over the Detroit River and stop the Canadians from constructing the Gordie Howe International Bridge downriver, anyway.
The same week that both Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr. and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan blew metaphorical kisses to Matthew Moroun, the younger, friendlier face of the company's new leadership, this drops -- a one-minute commercial begging President Trump to withdraw the presidential permit issued by his predecessor to let Canada go ahead with construction of the Gordie Howe Bridge.
Frame from the Moroun company commercial seeking a presidential favor.
As pitches go, it's aimed right at Trump's sweet spots -- his apparent desire to reverse any policy advanced by President Obama, his fondness for patriotic displays and oft-stated concern for American workers and jobs, and his career enthusiasm for big construction projects that allow him to pose in a hardhat, his second-favorite headgear. We counted 13 repetitions of "America" or "Americans" in that minute, while an adagio piano version of "America the Beautiful" plays in the background.
And the coup de grace? It ran Wednesday during "Fox & Friends," the Free Press reports:
By bringing in Black Diamond Strategies (the communications firm that produced it) in Washington and putting the ad on "Fox & Friends," which the president is known to watch and occasionally appear on, the Morouns appear to be putting together a campaign designed to reach past potential gatekeepers and directly to the president. Black Diamond includes as a principal Doug Davenport, who served as an adviser for the Trump campaign and worked on the 2016 Republican National Convention, having been brought in by former campaign manager Paul Manafort.
The commercial doesn't allow embedding from Vimeo, but you can watch it here.
