Taxpayer-Funded Trump Ads Draw Bipartisan Criticism Ahead of Midterms
publishers 34articles 40first reported 25 Sep, 03:28 UTCdeveloping since 25 Sep · 7 editions
The Trump administration is airing a series of taxpayer-funded television advertisements featuring President Donald Trump, prompting objections from Democratic lawmakers, ethics experts and several Senate Republicans ahead of the November midterm elections.
One 30-second ad pairs rapid images of Trump with the song “Love Me,” promotes tax cuts and manufacturing, and declares that “America will never be a communist country.” NPR reported that AdImpact estimated the government had spent more than $918,000 airing that commercial nationwide as of Sunday.
Another spot repurposes material from Trump’s 2024 campaign, with Trump pledging to “demolish the deep state,” remove “warmongers” from government and confront the “fake news media.” A disclosure says it was paid for by the U.S. government. A newer advertisement promotes the administration’s war with Iran using audio from Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth alongside U.S. military footage, according to The Hill.
The White House describes the commercials as public service announcements rather than campaign advertising. It told NPR that Trump is not on the ballot and the ads contain no call to action. Trump said he was promoting the country, not himself, and would repay the money if the spending were found improper.
Democratic congressional appropriators have called for the first ad to be withdrawn, arguing that it may violate federal ethics and appropriations laws barring government-funded propaganda. Republican senators John Kennedy and Thom Tillis have also criticized the spending. Kennedy said public officials should not use public money for advertisements promoting themselves.
HOW THIS STORY WAS MADE
Written from 8 articles, 5 with the publisher's own text; 7 independent newsrooms once syndicated copies count as one; this version written 16 h after the record first saw the story; the editor kept it as written.
- Publishers
- 34
- Source articles
- 40
- Given to the writer
- 8, 5 with the article's own text
- Independent newsrooms
- 7
- This version written
- 16 h after the record first saw the story
- Second model (editor)
- kept as written
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- passed
- Human review
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