White House defends ad as ‘public service announcement’
A revised version of President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign ad has returned to television airwaves, with the closing on-screen message changed to “Paid for by the U.S. Government,” The Washington Post reported. The original 2024 version of the spot closed with the phrase “Join President Trump’s fight for America” alongside information on how to contribute to his campaign.
According to the Post, the new version aired during college and NFL football games, NBC’s Saturday Night Live and Fox News Sunday. The government spent more than $300,000 on the ad, though it remained unclear which agency paid for the airtime.
The ad itself features a black-and-white clip of Trump walking slowly down a hallway while railing against “warmongers,” “globalists” and the “deep state.” In the spot, Trump says: “We will cast out the communists, Marxists and fascists. We will throw off the sick political class that hates our country. We will rout the fake news media, and we will liberate America from these villains once and for all.” The revised ad concludes with the words “Paid for by the U.S. Government.”
The New York Times reported separately that the spot is one of multiple pro-Trump administration ads that have been funded by taxpayer dollars. Some legal experts have characterized the ads as propaganda, which they say federal law prohibits funding with public money.
Norm Eisen, a former White House ethics special counsel, told the Times that “The president and his administration have gone from breaking the law to trampling it.” Eisen added: “The prior ad was bad enough, but this one openly repurposes prior political conduct.”
The White House defended the advertisements. The administration described the spots as public service announcements “reminding Americans to love their country and understand what makes it worth defending at home, at our borders and abroad.” White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said: “Don’t let the Fake News get away with their lies about our epic Public Service Announcements that have been running on TV.”
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., addressed the ads Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “Now, the White House sees it differently,” Kennedy said. “But I think there ought to be a rule that you can’t — well there probably is a rule — that you can’t spend public money to promote yourself.”
The airing of the revised ad follows The New York Times’s reporting that the spot is one of multiple pro-Trump administration advertisements funded by taxpayer dollars. The specific government agency responsible for funding the latest placement has not been publicly identified.