Lawmakers in both parties have raised questions about television spots that feature President Donald Trump and are paid for with taxpayer money as November’s midterm elections approach.
According to CNBC, a White House spokesperson defended the ads as “public service announcements” intended to remind “Americans to love their country.” The spokesperson also said the ads are meant to help people “understand what makes it worth defending, at home, at our borders, and abroad.”
One spot uses music that repeats the words “love me” and shows images of Trump as he says, “America will never be a communist country.” On-screen text includes campaign-style lines such as “largest tax cuts in history.” AdImpact said the ad ran on national network television over the weekend, including during CBS’s Face the Nation and college football games.
Combined ad spending tops $1.2 million as Hassan and Kennedy object
AdImpact put the cost of airing that first ad at nearly $920,000 so far. The spot ends with a disclaimer that reads “paid for by the U.S. Government.” The source of the funding has not yet been identified.
A second ad has Trump saying, “This is the final battle,” then listing aims such as expelling “the warmongers from our government” and liberating “America from these villains once and for all.”
That language matches a 2024 digital ad the Trump team used during his second White House run, before the war in Iran. AdImpact said the second spot has cost taxpayers more than $362,000 so far and has aired during Sunday NFL games and Fox News Sunday.
The White House spokesperson called the campaign “educational and unapologetically patriotic” and said, “We should be proud of our country.” The ads track themes Republicans have used on the trail, including calling Democrats “communists” and highlighting the “One, Big, Beautiful Bill” tax-cut law. Democrats lead recent national public polling with just over five weeks until the November elections and are trying to take Republican majorities in the House and Senate.
Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., wrote Thursday to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles that “the advertisement 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.’” Hassan’s criticism of Trump’s spending aligns with broader concerns about the cost of his projects, as a report detailed how much of his White House projects actually cost taxpayers.
Hassan also wrote, “This taxpayer-funded political advertisement serves as yet another troubling example of President Trump’s growing list of expensive vanity projects – including the White House ballroom – that are estimated to cost over $1.8 billion, money that could have instead been spent lowering costs for Americans.”
Top Democratic members of the Appropriations Committees said, “If President Trump wants people to love him, he can pay for it himself.” Those panels have long inserted language in spending bills that bars federal money for propaganda.
The most recent government funding bill states, “No part of any appropriation contained in this or any other Act shall be used directly or indirectly, including by private contractor, for publicity or propaganda purposes within the United States not heretofore authorized by Congress.”
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., addressed the matter on CBS’s Face the Nation. He said, “I don’t think any public official, including President Trump or [former Homeland Security Secretary] Kristi Noem or John Kennedy, should spend public money on private ads for themselves.”
Published: Sep 28, 2026 09:30 am