Ethics experts say government-funded pro-Trump ad may violate federal law
The ceremony that marked Trump’s White House reception for Xi on Wednesday produced what the Wall Street Journal’s Washington coverage chief characterized as durable propaganda material for Beijing. Chinese flags were displayed prominently along a makeshift parade route on 14th Street N.W., carried by people in light-blue hats, and at one point flew from the roof of the White House itself — imagery the Chinese Embassy in Washington amplified on social media on Thursday.
At the airport, military officials could be seen on their hands and knees smoothing the red carpet before Xi walked across it. Paletta framed the spectacle against Trump’s past posture toward Beijing: “This sight would have been unthinkable in 2016 when President Trump accused China of being a global pariah that was destroying America’s heartland.” The reception would also have been unthinkable in 2020, when Trump referred to the coronavirus as the “China Virus” and used a derogatory nickname for Covid-19 to blame Beijing for its spread, the newsletter reported.
“The images — of Chinese flags whipping in the wind, of Xi being toasted at a White House state dinner, or Chinese flags flying on the roof (!!) of the White House — will be played and replayed in Beijing for months and years (and decades?) to come,” Paletta wrote. He added: “Few know how to do domestic propaganda as well as the Chinese.”
The summit itself was “heavy on ceremony and light on outcomes,” Paletta reported. Trump heralded the “tremendous strides” he and Xi had made, and Xi, speaking through a translator, told Trump he was ready to work with him and that two Chinese pandas would soon be sent to the Atlanta zoo. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has been quietly holding talks with China about its rapidly expanding nuclear arsenal, the newsletter reported.
Paletta posed the open question of whether the gesture would yield diplomatic dividends or simply embolden Beijing. “Will China be different?” he asked. “Could such flattery bring a modern China closer to the U.S. and pull it away from countries such as Russia and Iran? Or does it only embolden them more?” Specifically, he asked whether the pageantry would “embolden them more to help Iran with satellite imagery,” “embolden them more to help Iran evade sanctions,” or “embolden them more to resist Trump’s pressure on trade.”
Some Senate Republicans were “livid” at all the pomp this week, according to Paletta, who framed the gamble for Trump by recalling his 2025 Anchorage reception of Russian President Vladimir Putin. That meeting, Paletta wrote, “gave the Russians plenty of footage and images for domestic propaganda, but it didn’t lead to any changes in Russia’s war against Ukraine.” Trump, Paletta added, is now inviting Putin to a December G-20 summit in Florida.
Separately, the U.S. government paid for a pro-Trump television advertisement that opens with Trump saying, “Together we will defeat communism, Marxism in America once and for all.” The administration declined to disclose the cost of the ad, which ethics experts told the Journal appears to include a voice clip from the Republican National Convention and could violate federal law.
On press access, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly — a Trump appointee — temporarily lifted Trump’s press ban Thursday morning, restoring access to three outlets whose reporters had been blocked. Kelly said administration officials had offered “little to back up their asserted national security interest” for instituting the ban. Hours later, MS NOW and CNN reported that some of their journalists were blocked from the guest arrivals portion of the state dinner.
In other items from the newsletter: New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill called for the resignation of Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell after an independent investigation found Caldwell made a sexual comment to a staffer and tried to obtain a promotion for a romantic partner. Trump’s Friday schedule includes tea with Xi and his wife, Madame Peng Liyuan, followed by afternoon policy meetings. The newsletter also noted that President Obama hosted Xi at the White House twice in 2015, with Chinese flags displayed on those occasions as well. On this day in 1981, the Senate unanimously confirmed Sandra Day O’Connor as the first female Supreme Court justice; she retired in 2006 and died in 2023.