--- title: Senate Candidate Richard Painter Uses Dumpster Fire in Ad description: Richard Painter, a Minnesota U.S. Senate candidate, used the image of a dumpster fire in his campaign ad to make a point about Trump. canonical: https://time.com/5315790/richard-painter-minnesota-senate-ad-dumpster-fire/ author: Jennifer Calfas article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-06-19T13:03:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-12T09:31:20.584Z article:section: Politics og:title: Senate Candidate Uses Actual Dumpster Fire in Campaign Ad og:description: "Here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, we know how to put out a fire" og:url: https://time.com/5315790/richard-painter-minnesota-senate-ad-dumpster-fire/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt76f23c2e5cbda7e0/69893352096a94934e6a2b3e/richard_painter_ad_screengrab.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1920 og:image:height: 1080 og:image:alt: richard_painter_ad_screengrab og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Senate Candidate Uses Actual Dumpster Fire in Campaign Ad twitter:description: "Here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, we know how to put out a fire" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt76f23c2e5cbda7e0/69893352096a94934e6a2b3e/richard_painter_ad_screengrab.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Senate Candidate Used an Actual Dumpster Fire to Make a Point About the Trump Administration > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=bb54fab3-57ba-4c9f-be35-b029dc626a16&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Richard Painter - Dumpster Fire Ad [Watch (HLS stream): Richard Painter - Dumpster Fire Ad](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/dkThF7XK.m3u8) (0:40)  _Published 2018-06-19. Richard Painters' first ad for his US Senate campaign_ by [Jennifer Calfas](https://time.com/author/jennifer-calfas/) ## Jennifer Calfas Jun 19, 2018 1:03 PM UTC by [Jennifer Calfas](https://time.com/author/jennifer-calfas/) ## Jennifer Calfas Jun 19, 2018 1:03 PM UTC Richard Painter, a former White House ethics lawyer [keen on impeaching President Donald Trump](http://time.com/5260549/richard-painter-impeachment-democrats/), used an actual dumpster fire to illustrate his campaign for Minnesota’s U.S. Senate. “Some people see a dumpster fire and do nothing but watch the spectacle,” Painter said in the ad as a trash fire appeared to burn behind him. “There is an inferno raging in Washington,” he continued. “But here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, we know how to put out a fire.” And with that, a sheet of water poured down and extinguished the blaze. (The Land of 10,000 Lakes is one of Minnesota’s nicknames.) > [](https://twitter.com/RWPMinnesota/status/1008462633098465283) Painter, a former Republican who served as chief White House ethics lawyer for former President George W. Bush, is challenging Sen. Tina Smith in the state’s Democratic primary. Smith replaced former Sen. Al Franken, who [resigned last year](http://time.com/5054253/al-franken-resigns-transcript/) amid allegations of sexual misconduct. Painter [recently told TIME](http://time.com/5260549/richard-painter-impeachment-democrats/) his push for impeachment was a central component of his campaign, along with campaign finance reform. Invoking a dumpster fire in his first campaign ad reflects an image conjured by some Americans starting in 2016\. Indeed, the American Dialect Society [named “dumpster fire,”](http://time.com/4627056/dumpster-fire-2016-word-of-the-year/) defined as “an exceedingly disastrous or chaotic situation,” as the 2016 word of the year. “As a metaphor for a situation that is out of control or poorly handled, dumpster fire came into prominence in 2016,” the organization said at the time, “very frequently in the context of the U.S. presidential campaign.” ## Transcript [ NOISE ] Some people see a dumpster fire and did nothing but watch the spectacle. Some are too scared to face the danger or they think it will benefit them if they just let it keep on burning. Others shrug and say all these talk of a dumpster fire, it's just fake news. [ SOUND ] There's an inferno raging in Washington, but here in the land of 10, 000 lakes [ SOUND ] we know how to put out a fire [ MUSIC ] I am Richard Painter, and I approve of this message [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5315790/richard-painter-minnesota-senate-ad-dumpster-fire/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5315790/richard-painter-minnesota-senate-ad-dumpster-fire/"},"headline":"This Senate Candidate Used an Actual Dumpster Fire to Make a Point About the Trump Administration","datePublished":"2018-06-19T13:03:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-12T09:31:20.584Z","description":"\"Here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, we know how to put out a fire\"","url":"https://time.com/5315790/richard-painter-minnesota-senate-ad-dumpster-fire/","keywords":["2018 Elections","Congress","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt76f23c2e5cbda7e0/69893352096a94934e6a2b3e/richard_painter_ad_screengrab.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jennifer Calfas","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jennifer-calfas/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt76f23c2e5cbda7e0/69893352096a94934e6a2b3e/richard_painter_ad_screengrab.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"richard_painter_ad_screengrab","caption":"","creditText":"Richard Painter Senate ad","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2018-elections/","name":"2018 Elections"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5315790/richard-painter-minnesota-senate-ad-dumpster-fire/","name":"This Senate Candidate Used an Actual Dumpster Fire to Make a Point About the Trump Administration"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Richard Painter - Dumpster Fire Ad","description":"Richard Painters' first ad for his US Senate campaign","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/dkThF7XK/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-06-19T11:38:16.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/dkThF7XK.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5315790/richard-painter-minnesota-senate-ad-dumpster-fire/","duration":"PT40S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5315790/richard-painter-minnesota-senate-ad-dumpster-fire/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```