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By Doug Zanger | Americas Editor

September 23, 2016 | 3 min read

At first, this was going to be a story breaking down the newest ad from Hillary Clinton, “Mirrors.” The critique: It’s great, powerful and about as dead-on to the target as it can get — taking Donald Trump’s misogynistic comments over the years and putting them into the context of girls and young women in this country and asking, “Is this the president we want for our daughters?” Well, the answer, at least from where I sit, is no.

Judging from the reaction, it’s struck a nerve and today’s Morning Joe panel on MSNBC weighed in from both sides of the aisle, including former George W. Bush communications director Nicole Wallace and former Ted Cruz communications director Rick Tyler — with the former noting how much of an impact this ad has on men who are (as they should be) protective of their daughters. Both were impressed with the impact.

Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski pointed out the destructive nature of Trump’s words, adding, “You grow up as a young girl and a young woman in America, and the first thing that you’re hit with as a girl is all those types of things, and it hurts,” referring to the onslaught of insults from Trump that peppered the spot.

Nick Confessore of The New York Times weighed in, too, saying, “What's offensive about it is it's not his comments against the people that they are made about, or other celebrities or whoever ... It's against people like you, teenagers, and young women, and that's what makes it so effective. I think it's going to have a huge impact."

But the harshest judgment came from Donny Deutsch, the legendary advertising executive who put the hammer down on Trump, saying, “You want to punch him in that ad. You want to literally punch his face.”

Taking it further, Deutsch, a staunch critic of the Republican nominee and fan of Cilnton’s advertising work put, not just the spot, but Trump’s behavior in stark relief as a societal issue, noting, “To me, the biggest concern about a Trump presidency, beyond the nuclear codes, is what does it set up for behavior? How we behave as people? How people behave in a schoolyards. How people behave in the office environment. That's what happens as a result of this. He is setting the mark for what is appropriate, acceptable, and even aspirational behavior. To me as dad, to me as a person, to me as an American, that's the scariest thing about it.”

The first debate between the two candidates, hosted by NBC's Lester Holt, is Monday.

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