several quick comments
1. intended target audience is delegates to Republican National Convention
2. Contrast with Reagan serves several purposes. First, Trump is not a conservative. Second, Reagan comes across as sober and serious, while Trump comes across as unhinged.
3. Including the mocking of the disable NY Times reporter, as has been done in several Clinton supporting ads, pushes that meme out there further in a way that makes it an almost unavoidable part of the lens through which people view Trump.
I don’t think it is a great ad. What is interesting is that it is being run by Republicans against Trump.
Here’s the text from The Daily Trail email of the Washington Post:
—A new GOP ad launching this weekend makes an appeal to a narrow demographic. Very narrow. So narrow that it could fit inside, say, a Cleveland arena. "A group of Republicans seeking to strip Donald Trump of their party's presumptive presidential nomination are launching a national television campaign designed to reach just 2,472 people," reports Ed O'Keefe.
"That's the number of delegates to the Republican National Convention -- the group of people who will either formally nominate Trump or consider a series of proposals that might open up the party meetings next month in Cleveland to other options.
"The 30-second TV ad is scheduled to air Sunday, Monday and Tuesday on the Fox News Channel -- an outlet popular with Republicans -- during national ad breaks, according to Dane Waters, one of the leaders of Delegates Unbound. His group has been fighting for years to ensure that GOP delegates can vote however they want during a nominating convention instead of being bound to the results of state caucuses and primaries. ..."
The email also notes that the effort to stop Trump is probably doomed, since a majority of the Rules Committee is now supporting Trump.