Trump’s political rhetoric is back on TV screens, this time in taxpayer-funded White House ads.“Final Battle,” a 30-second spot, is the third government-funded ad to air in recent days. While the White House has referred to the ads as public service announcements, Democrats and former ethics officials question whether they amount to political advertising that could breach federal rules on the use of taxpayer money.The latest ad shows black-and-white footage of Trump walking through a hallway lined with portraits while his voice plays over the images. Its visuals and rhetoric echo a video he posted on Truth Social in January 2024, during his third presidential campaign.The US President said that the country must expel “the warmongers,” “globalists” and “deep state” actors from government and remove his political opponents from power.“We will cast out the communists, Marxists, and fascists,” he said. “We will throw off the sick political class that hates our country. We will rout the fake news media, and we will liberate America from these villains once and for all.”The ad is nearly identical to most of the original, which had an extra six seconds featuring Trump’s campaign logo and a number to text. The government version instead ends with “Paid for by the US Government” across the screen.According to ad-tracking firm AdImpact, it aired over the weekend during “Saturday Night Live”, “Fox News Sunday” and several college and NFL football games. It ran during at least two NFL games on Sunday: Fox’s broadcasts of Commanders-Seahawks and Panthers-Browns.More than $300,000 has been spent on it. It is unclear which government agency produced and paid for the ads.The push comes just over a month before the November midterms.
Three ads, same spotlight
The Trump administration appeared to step up its use of taxpayer-funded television spots promoting President Donald Trump.The latest, a minute-long ad, features scenic footage of Mount Rushmore at night along with quotes and clips from Trump’s Fourth of July weekend speech there marking the country’s 250th anniversary. It was the second government-funded TV ad to air in three days, while spending on the first had risen to at least $443,000.Lawmakers from both parties criticised the first ad on Thursday, questioning its legality and appropriateness given its political nature, its timing ahead of the November midterms and the use of taxpayer money.The first ad, which began airing Wednesday, featured rapidly edited pictures and videos of Trump, with audio of him denouncing communism and socialism. On-screen text highlighted his administration’s achievements, including “reigniting American manufacturing”.
Taxpayer money under scrutiny
The White House had posted the ad on X on September 26 with the caption “America will NEVER be a communist country.”Several Democratic members of Congress sent a letter last week to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, calling on the administration to stop airing the ads.Common Cause has also questioned the spending.“I don’t think you have to be a legal scholar and wonder why the president has to use taxpayer funds to promote his image” this close to an election, Carol Evans, the group’s vice president for policy, told CNN.Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana also questioned the use of public money for image-building ads.“I don’t think any public official, including President Trump or Kristi Noem or John Kennedy, should spend public money on private ads for themselves,” he told CBS News.His comments follow a $200 million-plus campaign run last year by the department of homeland security under then-secretary Kristi Noem. The ads prominently featured her on horseback, warning that people who broke US laws would be “hunted down and deported”.Under questioning from Kennedy in March, Noem testified that Trump had approved the campaign. Trump later criticised the spending and, not long afterwards, fired her.
White House pushes back
A White House spokesperson said, “The ad is educational and unapologetically patriotic. We should be proud of our country.”The White House has maintained that the ads promote national pride. It argues they are not campaign ads because Trump is not on the ballot and the spots contain no call to action. It says its commercials “are very clearly not campaign ads.”It points to government-funded advertising under George W Bush, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and earlier administrations as examples of public money being used to explain policies. It cites campaigns on Medicare, Obamacare and Covid-19 vaccination.“When prior Administrations utilized the airwaves, it was called ‘public education,'” it said. “When this Administration promotes pride in our country, many of those same voices call it ‘propaganda.'” Communications director Steven Cheung posted on X on Sunday, “Don’t let the Fake News get away with their lies about our epic Public Service Announcements that have been running on tv.”
What the law says
Federal law, enacted annually in appropriations bills since the 1950s, prohibits agencies from using taxpayer money for unauthorised “publicity or propaganda”.The Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congress’s investigative arm, has interpreted the rule as covering purely partisan communications. It also recognises that administrations can use public money to explain and defend their policies.However, the GAO previously found that one of the earlier advertising campaigns the White House cites had violated the anti-propaganda law.