The White House is running taxpayer-funded TV ads starring Trump during NFL games, weeks before the midterms. Patriotic public messaging, or political propaganda?
The latest ad, which says it was "Paid for by the U.S. government", has Trump calling this "the final battle" and vowing to throw off the "sick political class" and rout the "fake news media". It is the third such ad in recent days, and the White House has not said what they cost or which budget pays for them.
What happened
On Sunday 27 September the White House aired a new government-funded TV ad during two NFL games on Fox. It shows Trump walking down a hallway over audio of him pledging to "cast out the communists, Marxists, and fascists" and describing "the final battle". It follows two earlier ads, one about communism and one filmed at Mount Rushmore. The ads say they were paid for by the US government, but the cost and the source of the funding have not been disclosed.
Why people disagree
Critics say public money cannot be spent on political advertising, and that ads attacking opponents weeks before an election are campaigning in all but name; Democrats called it propaganda and Republican Senator John Kennedy also objected. The White House calls them patriotic public service announcements and compares them to past Medicare and Covid-vaccine ads, and supporters note Trump is not on the ballot and the ads contain no call to vote.
What's still unclear
It is unclear how much the ads cost, which budget pays for them, and whether they breach federal rules on publicity and propaganda. The Government Accountability Office criticised Bush- and Obama-era campaigns but has not ruled on these ads.
Sources
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