The Trump administration has begun airing U.S. government-funded political advertisements which promote President Donald Trump and have reportedly cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Three of what the White House has described as “public service announcements” have aired. Lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle have criticized the ads and questioned if they are appropriate ahead of the November Midterm Elections.
In an email shared with Newsweek, a spokesperson for the White House said: “These public service announcements are about reminding Americans to love their country and understand what makes it worth defending, at home, at our borders, and abroad. The ad is educational and unapologetically patriotic. We should be proud of our country.” The White House did not answer questions on how the adverts were funded or costed.
Exact costs surrounding all of the adverts have not been publicly confirmed. The reported, citing figures from AdImpact, which tracks media spending, that the first advert, a 30-second spot that began airing on Wednesday, had cost at least $443,000 as of Friday. That advert features footage of Trump as he talks about defeating communism.
On the screen, there is a text overlay that promotes the “largest tax cuts in history” and a chorus which repeatedly sings “love me.” The advert closes with a message that discloses it was paid for by the government. Estimated figures for the Mount Rushmore advert have yet to be publicly confirmed. Meanwhile, more than $300,000 had been spent on the "final battle" advert, the reported on Sunday, citing figures from AdImpact.
That advert is similar to one which aired during Trump’s 2024 campaign. In it, Trump narrates: “With you at my side, we will demolish the ‘deep state.’ We will expel the warmongers from our government. We will drive out the globalists; we will cast out the communists, Marxists, and fascists.” “We will rout the fake news media, and we will liberate America from these villains once and for all,” he says.
The adverts have drawn bipartisan condemnation over whether they are appropriate given their political nature, with the midterms now less than two months away, and the use of taxpayer funds. Senator Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who is not running for re-election, described the advert as “inappropriate.” Meanwhile, Senator John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, said in an interview with CBS on Sunday that no public official, including Trump, should “spend public money on private ads for themselves.” Four Democratic lawmakers—Senators Patty Murray and Jack Reed, and Representatives Rosa DeLauro and Steny Hoyer—wrote a letter to the White House chief of staff Susie Wiles raising concerns about the ad, where they described it as an “egregious and illegal misuse of Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars” and said it is “the sort of government propaganda one might expect in North Korea, not the United States of America.” In a press release on Friday, the White House said that the “attacks” on the announcements are “highly dishonest,” and described the announcements as a “reminder for Americans to love their country.” In the release, the White House cited previous examples of public service announcements, including a Biden-era one about COVID-19 vaccinations, a George W. Bush administration campaign about Medicare law and one dating back to Woodrow Wilson’s presidency, the Committee on Public Information, which used posters, films and speakers to “rally the country.” “The announcements are very clearly not campaign ads; President Trump is not on the ballot and there is no call to action,” the release read.
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