North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory has said repeatedly that his concern with allowing transgender individuals to use the bathrooms and locker rooms of their choice is merely a privacy issue, not one of safety. A recent slide in the polls seems to have inspired him to change his tune to one more embracing of the politics of fear. He must be learning something from all those Trump rallies he’s been attending recently.

In a new campaign ad, a sexual assault victim is trotted out to imply a connection that is simply not there, as Charlotte‘s NPR outlet WFAE makes clear.

Related: McCrory Called A “Moronic Little Bigot Of A Tarheel Governor” In Leaked DNC Email

In fact, North Carolina good place a guard on every bathroom door checking birth certificates and it wouldn’t have made a bit of difference in this woman’s case, as she was assaulted by her brother in their home.

“At nine, I was molested by a teenager,” Gina Little says. “When I found out that President Obama and Roy Cooper want to force schoolchildren to share the same locker rooms, shower and restroom with someone who claims the opposite sex, I was horrified.”

The fact that they couldn’t find someone who was attacked by a transgender person in a locker room or bathroom, or someone using laws allowing trans people to use facilities matching their gender identity, is telling.

Finding examples of violence against trans people is much easier.

Attorney General Roy Cooper is McCrory’s challenger in the gubernatorial race. He opposes HB2, the bill McCrory signed into law, prohibiting transgender people from using bathrooms and locker rooms that do not match what is on their birth certificate in public buildings. Private businesses are allowed to set their own policies concerning the issue.

Cooper has refused to defend HB2 in court, noting that HB2 conflicts with that state Department of Justice policy and a similar one adopted by the state Treasury Department and saying he would defend the agencies against the state law.

HB2 also did away with all non-discrimination ordinances in the state, capped the minimum wage at $7.25 an hour and took away the right to sue for workplace discrimination in state court. That right has since been reinstated.

Related: This Is How You Support A Transgender Child

The Obama administration sent a directive to public schools instructing them to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms and locker rooms matching their gender identity.

This is the McCrory campaign’s Willie Horton moment, hoping he can scare people into voting for him. In so doing he has shown just how desperate, dishonest and dangerous he is willing to be in the process.

Watch the misleading, disgusting ad below. Or don’t.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxV32WwaBRA