Since Wednesday, September 23, a 30-second TV ad has been airing on Fox News, Newsmax and CBS. It's a fast-cut montage of Donald Trump at rallies, White House events, ball games and with troops, set to a singer repeating "love me, love me, love me." A caption reads "AMERICA WILL NEVER BE A COMMUNIST COUNTRY." It ends with UFC boss Dana White calling Trump "the toughest, most resilient person that I've ever met."
At the bottom of the screen: "Paid for by the US Government."
That's you. You paid for it.
How much
Ad tracker AdImpact says the government has spent at least $430,000 running the ad in markets across the country. The Associated Press reported that the real total "could be significantly more," depending on how networks classified it.
On Friday, the White House put out a second one, a minute long and narrated by Trump over footage of Mount Rushmore and his July Fourth speech. "This is only the beginning of the golden age of America," he says. It aired on Newsmax. What that one cost isn't known yet.
The White House's excuse
The White House calls the ads "public service announcements" meant to remind Americans "to love their country." A spokesperson called the first one "educational and unapologetically patriotic."
Presidents have run real public service announcements before. Former presidents taped one together in 2021 urging people to get COVID vaccines. The Obama White House ran one against sexual assault. As Mother Jones points out, those ads were about something other than the president. "Usually, a public service announcement announces something," it wrote. This one is a montage of Trump.
What the law says
Federal spending law, including the funding bill Trump signed this year, bans using public money for unauthorized "publicity or propaganda." The Government Accountability Office has said that covers communications whose obvious purpose is "self-aggrandizement" or "puffery," and communications that are "purely partisan," Common Dreams reported.
The consumer watchdog Public Citizen has filed a complaint with the GAO. Sen. Maggie Hassan wrote to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles that the ad "does not have a clear official government purpose and appears to run afoul of federal prohibitions against the use of appropriated funds as part of 'a general propaganda effort designed to aid a political party or candidates.'"
Even some Republicans say it's wrong
It isn't only Democrats objecting. "It's not like they need a GoFundMe page to have the dollars to do that sort of ad, and they could do it. But using taxpayer dollars, it feels like Viktor Orbán," North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis told reporters, naming Hungary's former strongman prime minister. Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy said: "I don't generally like to see politicians use public money to pay for their own campaign ads."
Trump isn't on the ballot this November. The Republicans who run Congress on his record are. The ad began running about six weeks before Election Day.
It isn't new for this party
Republicans have used public money this way closer to home too. In Georgia, we reported that Mike Collins spent $400,000 of taxpayers' money on ads that look just like his campaign's.
The short version
Since September 23, the Trump White House has run at least $430,000 worth of TV ads praising Trump, set to a song called "Love Me" and labeled "Paid for by the US Government," and added a second ad on Friday. Federal spending law bars using public money for propaganda or purely partisan messages. Public Citizen has filed a complaint with the GAO, and Republican Sens. Thom Tillis and John Kennedy have both objected.
Source
You're Paying For Donald Trump's New Ad — Mother Jones. Image: screenshot of the government ad, via Mother Jones.
