The White House on Friday compared a new television ad about President Donald Trump playing on Fox News to public service announcements (PSA) on healthcare, drugs, and wartime efforts. Using the song "Love Me," the ad aired earlier this week and featured multiple images and clips of the president alongside the American flag, anti-Communist messages, and key policy efforts including tax cuts, accompanied by the tag "paid for by the U.S. government." In a press release Friday, the White House framed the criticism of the ad as "highly dishonest." "The announcements are very clearly not campaign ads; President Donald Trump is not on the ballot and there is no call to action," the release said. "Instead, the announcements are a reminder for Americans to love their country and know why it’s worth defending—at home, at the border, and abroad.
That’s not partisanship—that’s a government that still believes in the country it serves." The ad was first spotted on Jesse Watters' Fox News show on Wednesday, as well as being made available on the White House website and YouTube channel. The advertisement came after the White House launched its own 24/7 video channel, branded "Trump TV: The Essentials Station," following the president's ban of CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House over what he called "fake news." Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland said the video may be criminal, in a post to X on Thursday. "This may be felony criminal theft and conversion of government property for political campaign purposes," Raskin said.
It is a Hatch Act violation for any government employees who worked on it or used government resources to make it. It is blatantly unethical under numerous federal ethics provisions proscribing the use of government resources for political campaigns." Raskin told MS NOW on Friday that there wasn't anything he could do to stop the ad airing. Newsweek reached out to Raskin's office for further comment Friday afternoon.
In its Friday press release, the White House said that when previous administrations had "utilized the airwaves," it was called "public education," but when the current administration did so, it was branded "propaganda," referring to a Washington Post article highlighting federal regulations. The Trump White House argued that administrations of both parties have used PSAs to explain their policies and make their case for the country's direction. It went on to list some examples of PSAs, including from the 1940s during World War II and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The earliest example given by the White House was from during World War I, between 1914 and 1918, when President Woodrow Wilson used posters, films, and speakers to rally the country. According to The National WWI Museum and Memorial, Wilson sought to influence public opinion in favor of the war using colorful posters, such as the famous "Uncle Sam Wants You" poster. The next major conflict in the early 1940s, World War II, saw President Franklin D.
Roosevelt also utilize different media to get the government's message out to the public. Films, radio messages, and posters were all used then by the U.S. Office of War Information.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
