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Social media impresario Donald Trump, who has learned to command the news cycle with his provocative tweets, has turned to Instagram to refine the art of the attack ad.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee used the platform this morning to rip into a Washington Post article calling into question his claim that he raised $6 million to benefit veterans (the amount was closer to $4.5 million). Trump suggests the publication — or, as he refers to it, the "dishonest media" — should dig into the Clinton Foundation instead.
This is the second time in 24 hours that the Trump campaign has used Instagram to attack Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate most likely to be his rival for the White House.
There's a reason Trump is employing Instagram for these sorts of unfiltered attacks: The photo and video platform's popularity on mobile devices and among younger users.
Facebook-owned Instagram has some 400 million users, with 89.4 million Americans logging into Instagram at least once a month, according to eMarketer. And it's especially in vogue with millennials, with some 48.2 million users ages 18 to 34.
That's a big potential audience for launching broadsides your opponent can't directly refute.
A creepy black and white video posted Monday recycled old allegations of sexual misconduct against the candidate's husband, Bill Clinton. It highlighted the testimony of Juanita Broaddrick, who alleged he raped her in 1978. The former president denied the allegations through his personal lawyer, David Kendall.
Trump's use of Bill Clinton's alleged misconduct is a staggering display of campaign bravado, as it comes in the wake of a New York Times investigation raising questions about Trump's own private conduct with women — though one of the women interviewed for the story claimed her comments were misconstrued.
Earlier, Trump used video of Clinton barking to depict her as a "punchline" to America's most formidable foes, including ISIS and Russian President Vladimir Putin, as it asks, "Is this what we want for a President?"
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
