USA25 September, 20262 min read
White House Funds Trump “Final Battle” TV Ad During Fox NFL Games Ahead of Midterms
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Taxpayer-funded ad promoting Trump aired on major networks before midterms. Cost grew from about $14,000 to roughly $430,000 across network stations.
Taxpayer Ad, Trump’s Message
The White House launched another taxpayer-funded television ad before the midterms featuring President Donald Trump walking down a hall as audio plays of him saying “this is the final battle.” Trump’s ad includes his pledge, “We will cast out the communists, Marxists, and fascists,” and it aired during at least two NFL games on Sunday on Fox’s broadcasts of the Washington Commanders-Seattle Seahawks matchup and the Carolina Panthers-Cleveland Browns game.
The White House compared the commercials to previous administrations’ public service announcements and said in a statement that its new commercials “are very clearly not campaign ads.” AdImpact captured the latest government-funded ad, and the earlier Wednesday ad featured rapidly edited pictures and video of Trump with text touting “reigniting American manufacturing.”
Cost Jumps, Critics Push Back
AdImpact tracked a pro-Trump U.S. government-funded TV advertisement that aired for a third straight day Friday with expanded spending and reach, and it said the ad’s cost jumped from $14,000 to $430,000.
The 30-second spot featured Trump clips about defeating communism and included onscreen text promoting the “largest tax cuts in history,” “reigniting American manufacturing,” and a call to “defend law and order and police.”
The White House defended the ad as “educational and unapologetically patriotic,” and it said the announcements were about reminding Americans to love their country.
Sen. Thom Tillis called the ad “inappropriate” and likened it to something he would expect from Viktor Orban, while several House Democrats demanded the ad be taken off the air and called it “the sort of government propaganda one might expect in North Korea.”
Legal Challenge and Fallout
Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin said the ad violated the Hatch Act for government employees to work on such a video, writing, “It is blatantly unethical under numerous federal ethics provisions proscribing the use of government resources for political campaigns.”
“These ads should immediately be pulled from the air.”
Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire demanded that White House chief of staff Susie Wiles divulge details about the commercial, and she asked for copies of contracts as well as invoices.
The White House insisted the ads were “public service announcements” and said, “The ad is educational and unapologetically patriotic.”
Public Citizen filed a complaint with the Government Accountability Office arguing the ad violates federal laws prohibiting the use of government resources for propaganda and the Hatch Act, and Lisa Gilbert said, “These ads should immediately be pulled from the air.”