The White House on Friday defended its decision to use taxpayer funds to buy airtime on Fox News for a White House-produced pro-Trump ad that some Democrats said could be illegal government propaganda intended to influence voters in the upcoming midterm elections. just routine “public service announcements” like those produced by previous administrations. However, while the Trump administration’s ad features the president in nearly every frame and includes words of praise for him offered by a prominent supporter during the 2024 campaign, none of the ads from three previous administrations that the White House called similar included partisan messages or images of Trump’s predecessors. mes: “Together we will defeat communism, socialism and Marxism in the United States,” and a quick montage of images of Trump beneath the on-screen text: “America will never be a communist country,” while a choir sings the lyrics “love me,” taken from a song of the same name by JMSN. In the original speech, Trump explicitly identified the enemy as “Communist Dumocrats in Congress.” The last 10 seconds of the ad include text at the bottom of the screen that says, “Paid for by the US government.” The announcement aired on Fox News this week as Trump hosted the leader of the world’s largest communist nation, China, for a lavish state visit. Fox, “they are clearly not campaign ads; President Trump is not on the ballot and there is no call to action. Instead, the ads are a reminder for Americans to love their country and know why it is worth defending: at home, at the border and abroad.” celebrates Trump’s presidency and introduces his rhetoric by comparing Democrats to communists in the run-up to congressional elections in which he recently urged his supporters to “pretend I’m on the ballot” and vote for his party. Unlike initial versions of the ad posted on social media, the streamed version includes on-screen text boasting about what Trump calls his accomplishments. “The biggest tax cuts in history,” reads one slogan. “Revive American manufacturing,” says another. Next comes “Defend Law, Order and the Police.” The broadcast version of the ad also closes with a tribute to Trump from Dana White, the CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, who can be heard saying, “He is the toughest, most resilient human being I have ever met in my life.” White used that formulation to describe Trump several times during the 2024 presidential election campaign, most notably to sing Trump’s praises at the Republican national convention. While the White House maintains that the ad is an “unapologetically American” public service announcement “aimed at the country, not a line on the ballot,” the actual images used are not of the greatness of the country or its people, but only of its current president. In fact, slowing down the quick montage reveals that the flash images in the ad exclusively show Trump commanding the stage in a strange combination of moments during his second term, including: overseeing the US military attack on Venezuela; hosting a state dinner for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman; accept the FIFA peace prize; forgive a turkey; announce a new class of US Navy ships that will bear his name; attend a performance at the Kennedy Center; presentation of the FIFA Club World Cup trophy; showing Cristiano Ronaldo his presidential walk of fame; and addressing the owners of McDonald’s. A screenshot of a Donald Trump White House ad, showing him during the US military incursion into Venezuela, flanked by his CIA director John Ratcliffe and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Photography: The White House. A screenshot showing Donald Trump accepting the FIFA peace prize. Photograph: The White HouseDonald Trump pardoning a turkey. Photo: The White House The advertising paid for by previous administrations that the Trump White House compared its Friday announcement to were uniformly nonpartisan public information campaigns. A 2002 Super Bowl ad from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, which linked drug use by young Americans to the financing of terrorist attacks, did not mention political parties or then-President George W. Bush. A 2015 ad showing people how much money they could save by purchasing health insurance on Healthcare.gov did not show or mention Barack Obama. A 2021 ad by the Department of Health and Human Services to promote the Covid-19 vaccine also did not mention the president at the time, Joe Biden. The White House’s defense of its ad comes after Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat and constitutional scholar, suggested on social media that the ad may violate federal laws, including the Hatch Act. “This may be a felony theft and conversion of government property for political campaign purposes,” Raskin wrote. “It is a violation of the Hatch Act for any government employee who worked on it or used government resources to do so. It is blatantly unethical under numerous federal ethics provisions that prohibit the use of government resources for political campaigns.” He is far from issuing that announcement, according to the Associated Press. AdImpact reported Friday that the White House also paid to air a second ad featuring Trump, featuring excerpts from his July 3 speech at Mount Rushmore. The second ad, which aired Friday on the right-wing network Newsmax, includes images of the president’s supporters waving Trump flags and ends with the president repeating a slogan he has used dozens of times to describe his second administration: “This is just the beginning of America’s golden age.” JMSN, the Detroit-born artist who wrote and performs the song Love Me, wrote on social media that it had been used “illegally” because the White House did not approach him for permission. “I would never authorize my music to be used for ANY political agenda or campaign,” the singer wrote. “I’m looking for lawyers to take care of this.”
