A thirty-second spot began airing on cable during conservative programming on the night of September 23, 2026. The Associated Press describes it: “At first glance, it looks like a typical Republican campaign advertisement. As images of President Donald Trump flash across the screen, the 30-second spot says 'America will never be a communist country' and boasts about the 'largest tax cuts in history.' But there's something different near the end, a bit of text at the bottom that says 'paid for by the U.S. government.'”
The ad runs through what the White House counts as achievements, the “largest tax cuts in history,” “reigniting American manufacturing,” and a pledge to “defend law and order and police.” Trump says in it, “Together we will defeat communism, socialism, and Marxism in America. America will never be a communist country.” UFC chief executive Dana White is heard calling him “the toughest, most resilient person that I've ever met,” footage from the 2024 Republican National Convention. A song plays underneath with the words “love me” repeated over images of the president; HuffPost notes it is “Love Me” by JMSN and that it is unclear whether the artist gave permission. An image of Xi Jinping appears briefly, on the eve of the Chinese leader's visit to Washington.
The White House has since defended it. In a statement to the Associated Press it called the ad “educational and unapologetically patriotic,” and said, “These public service announcements are about reminding Americans to love their country and understand what makes it worth defending, at home, at our borders, and abroad.” It did not say what agency paid for the spot, and at the time no appropriation, contract or producer had been identified (see the September 29 update). The AP noted that the ad “does not say who voters should support in the midterms, but it meshes with campaign messaging from Trump and other Republicans.” AdImpact, which tracks media spending, puts the buy at $14,000, a very small amount of money for a story about the federal fisc, and says it ran during conservative shows on Fox News and Newsmax; Mediaite confirmed independently that it aired during overnight broadcasts of Jesse Watters Primetime, Hannity and Gutfeld!. The White House posted a 15-second version on its official YouTube channel on September 13, ten days before the spot aired, the Independent reported, and the video is published on whitehouse.gov.
Two separate legal questions are being raised, and they should not be run together. The first is the appropriations rule: federal appropriations law prohibits spending funds for “publicity or propaganda purposes,” and the Government Accountability Office has long read that to bar material whose “obvious purpose” is “self-aggrandizement” or that is “purely partisan.” The second is the Hatch Act, which does not apply to the president. Rep. Jamie Raskin's allegation is that it would be a violation “for any government employees who worked on it or used government resources to make it.” No inspector general referral or GAO opinion has been reported. (A formal complaint has since been filed; see the September 28 update.) No finding of illegality exists, and several outlets asserting one in their headlines support only that critics allege it in their own text.
The criticism was not confined to one party. Sen. Thom Tillis, who is not seeking reelection, said: “It's inappropriate. It's not like they need a GoFundMe page to have the dollars to do that sort of ad and they could do it. But using taxpayer dollars, it feels like Viktor Orban.” Sen. John Kennedy said he had not seen it but questioned whether it was lawful: “I don't generally like to see politicians use public money to pay for their own campaign ads.”
Update (September 25, 2026): the campaign is bigger than one spot. CBS News reported that the ad began running on national networks, CBS among them, on September 24, and that a second government-paid ad, recounting the U.S. capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and featuring Trump and his top Cabinet officials, aired on CBS stations and other networks that evening. There are multiple versions, some 30 seconds and some 60, and the government produced the content and paid for the air time through an ad agency, CBS reported. The musician JMSN said he never licensed the song: “I would never authorize my music to be used for ANY political agenda or campaign.”
The White House's answer has not changed. A White House official told CBS the ads “are clearly not political,” adding, “The President is not on the ballot and the ads don't have a call to action.” The Atlantic was given the same two lines, a spokesperson calling the ad “educational and unapologetically patriotic” and a second official calling it “clearly not political,” with no one willing to speak on the record.
Democrats in Congress have put it in writing. Sen. Maggie Hassan asked chief of staff Susie Wiles for the cost, the contractors, the source of the funding and whether money was diverted from federal agencies, writing that the ad “appears to run afoul of federal prohibitions against the use of appropriated funds as part of 'a general propaganda effort designed to aid a political party or candidates'”. The top Democratic appropriators, Sens. Patty Murray and Jack Reed and Reps. Rosa DeLauro and Steny Hoyer, demanded that it be pulled: “This is the sort of government propaganda one might expect in North Korea, not the United States of America, and it is an egregious and illegal misuse of Americans' hard-earned tax dollars.” Campaign-finance experts told CBS the ad likely does not violate election law. Columbia law professor Richard Briffault: “It doesn't appear to be supporting or endorsing a candidate for public office.” He agreed with Hassan, though, that there are questions under the propaganda law.
Update (September 28, 2026): the campaign kept growing over the weekend. On Friday, September 25, a minute-long ad began airing with scenic video of Mount Rushmore at night and clips from Trump's Fourth of July weekend speech there, the Associated Press reported: “This is only the beginning of the golden age of America.” Then came a 30-second black-and-white spot of Trump walking down a hallway, which the AP called “virtually identical to one that aired in 2024.” NBC News reported that Trump posted the original to Truth Social in January 2024; the government version adds “Paid for by the U.S. government” and drops the campaign ending, text reading “Join President Trump's fight to save America” and his 2024 logo.
In it Trump says, “With you at my side, we will demolish the 'deep state.' We will expel the war mongers from our government. We will drive out the globalists; we will cast out the communists, Marxists, and fascists,” and, “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.” CNN reported it aired during Fox's broadcasts of two NFL games on Sunday, September 27, and CNBC reported it also ran during “Fox News Sunday.”
The money is no longer small. AdImpact estimates the administration has spent more than $1.7 million running these ads, NBC reported, noting AdImpact cannot see every cable airing; CNBC put the first spot at nearly $920,000 and the campaign-ad rerun at more than $362,000 after one weekend. The White House still has not said which part of the government is paying.
The White House's defense is a September 25 release, “Presidential Public Service Announcements Are Nothing New,” which calls the criticism “highly dishonest” and says, “Patriotism isn't partisan.” It cites a Bush-era Medicare campaign, Obama's EPA and Biden's COVID-19 vaccination drive. NBC noted that the Government Accountability Office faulted the Bush campaign for not properly disclosing the government as its source and the Obama campaign for violating “publicity or propaganda and anti-lobbying provisions.” Axios noted a point on the other side: “GAO has said concealment of the government's role is central to a finding of covert propaganda,” and these spots label themselves. Communications director Steven Cheung: “Don't let the Fake News get away with their lies about our epic Public Service Announcements that have been running on tv.”
There is now a formal complaint. On September 25, Public Citizen asked GAO and the Office of Special Counsel to find that the ads violate the laws against using government resources for propaganda and the Hatch Act. Co-president Lisa Gilbert: “Taxpayer funds cannot pay for partisan political propaganda.” Neither office has announced any action.
Republican criticism grew. Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana, on CBS's “Face the Nation” on September 27: “I don't think any public official, including President Trump or Kristi Noem or John Kennedy, should spend public money on private ads for themselves.” Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky wrote: “Don't worry, using taxpayer dollars to run ominous campaign ads of the President has been done before and is completely legal… in banana republics.”
Correction (September 28, 2026): an earlier version of this entry said no complaint had been reported. Public Citizen filed one with GAO and the Office of Special Counsel on September 25.
Update (September 29, 2026): the money has a source. The Wall Street Journal reported, and NBC News, the AP and CNBC confirmed, that the ads are paid for with U.S. Customs and Border Protection funds from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the 2025 reconciliation law, rather than from annual appropriations. Sen. Susan Collins, the Republican who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, confirmed it on the record, saying “it was taken out of funding that was supposed to be for Customs and Border Protection.” She told NBC her committee had no role: “That's why the administration went around the appropriations process and used an account that was part of the reconciliation bill.” DHS referred questions to the White House, which has not said where the money came from.
The amount is less certain. Sens. Patty Murray and Chris Murphy wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin that “it appears DHS has dedicated $20 million to this outrageous scheme,” tapping CBP money provided “for commemorative events relating to border security.” CNBC found the trail behind that figure: on September 19 the Office of Management and Budget approved releasing $20 million to CBP under a “Commemorative Events” funding line, and the next day CBP awarded a $20 million contract to LMD Agency, a Maryland advertising firm, for a “National Media Campaign.” CNBC added that the public contract record does not establish that LMD worked on the Trump ads, and the senators say only that they suspect the line was the one tapped. AdImpact's partial count of the airtime passed $2.5 million for three ads over seven days, the AP reported.
Trump's own role rests on anonymous sources. CNN, citing one source familiar with the matter, reported that he personally drove the ads, including helping select the imagery and videos; two Trump advisers told CNN the spots are made in-house by the White House video team. The Journal, citing people familiar, reported that he pushed for them and was involved in creating them.
Republican objections spread through the Senate. Majority Leader John Thune: “It's a great message. I like the message, but it shouldn't be paid for with taxpayer dollars.” Sen. John Cornyn: “It's not even a close question.” Sen. Mike Rounds: “I just don't think it's right to be using taxpayer money in that way, particularly if it's tied to political campaigns.” Sen. Thom Tillis: “I hate it. I tell you, it feels like Viktor Orbán talking to the Hungarian people.” Rep. Thomas Massie added: “So much for DOGE. This is the kind of waste, fraud, and abuse they were originally supposed to go after.” A White House spokesperson, Davis Ingle, answered the criticism by calling Trump “the unequivocal leader, best messenger, and unmatched motivator for the Republican Party.”
The pressure is now formal on several fronts. Murray and Murphy asked DHS to answer within 48 hours and send copies of any contracts, copying the department's inspector general. On September 29 Public Citizen filed a second complaint, this one with the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission, asking them to “direct broadcasters to stop broadcasting” the ads; it argues that because Trump is not a candidate, stations are free to refuse them. Lawyers for JMSN sent the White House a letter demanding it “cease and desist any use of the Song.” Richard Painter, a White House ethics lawyer under George W. Bush, wrote that “this could be an impeachable offense.” GAO has made no finding, and CNN noted the agency currently has no Senate-confirmed leadership.
Update (September 30, 2026): the administration has begun to confirm the basics, and the regulator best placed to act has declined to. An administration official told Axios on September 29 that “The Department of Homeland Security is placing the ad buys using money from an existing budget,” and Axios reported that Trump “is personally selecting which government-funded ads his administration is airing ahead of the midterms,” with more to come. AdImpact counted 2,766 airings from September 23 to 29 on Fox News and the four broadcast networks, CNN reported, with about 30% of the spending on NFL and college football games. The White House: “The announcements are very clearly not campaign ads. President Trump is not on the ballot and there is no call to action.”
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee, dismissed Public Citizen's complaint on September 30: “There's nothing in there that strikes me to merit any sort of FCC review.” He called the ads “a normal PSA” and said “groups on the left” have “long worked and pushed to weaponize the FCC's license renewal process.” Anna Gomez, the commission's only Democrat, said she “highly” doubts the FCC “is going to do much to investigate it.” GAO told Ars Technica that its “work is done at the request of congressional committees or subcommittees or is statutorily required by public laws.”
The complaints keep coming. On September 30, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington asked DHS's inspector general to investigate possible violations of the Antideficiency Act, the Purpose Statute and the government-wide ban on “publicity or propaganda” in the 2026 appropriations law. Reps. Joe Morelle, Rosa DeLauro and Robert Garcia, the top Democrats on House Administration, Appropriations and Oversight, wrote to Trump on September 25 demanding the ad stop airing and answers by October 7, calling it “idolatrous propaganda reminiscent of North Korea.” On the Senate floor on September 29, Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) blocked Sen. Maggie Hassan's resolution declaring that such ads “should not be paid for by the United States government.” “When a Democratic president tells Americans what to do, it's a public service,” Lummis said. “When this president tells Americans that liberty is worth defending, it's suddenly a problem.” Minority Leader Chuck Schumer: “They were pure propaganda.”
Update (October 1, 2026): Trump defended the ads himself for the first time. “Now, if somebody said that that's wrong, I'll gladly pay the money, but these are ads for the country,” he told reporters in the Oval Office on September 30. “I'm not promoting a candidate. I'm not promoting myself because I'm not running for office.” The same day a fourth government-paid spot began airing, about the Iran war, with the same disclaimer. In it Trump says, “This regime will soon learn that no one should challenge the strength and might of the United States,” and Hegseth says, “We didn't start this war, but under President Trump, we are finishing it.” Which funds paid for that ad has not been confirmed.
Reps. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, and George Whitesides wrote to the Government Accountability Office and the Office of Special Counsel asking GAO to identify the “sources, accounts and total amount” spent and to rule on legality, and OSC to determine who should be held accountable, citing the propaganda ban, the Hatch Act, the Antideficiency Act and the law against converting public funds. It is the first request from members of Congress to GAO, which had told Ars Technica it acts on congressional requests. Raskin's letter says “stealing taxpayer dollars to pay for Mr. Trump's narcissistic ego trips is plainly illegal.” According to the Daily Beast, both agencies confirmed receiving it; GAO spokesperson Sarah Kaczmarek: “GAO has a process it goes through to determine whether we do work and when, which we are working through right now.” States Newsroom reported that the White House and DHS “didn't deny that the government fund was being used to pay for the ads.”
Update (October 2, 2026): the campaign is larger than what has aired, and the ad agency is now tied to it. CNN reported that the administration has created at least 13 campaign-style ads. It obtained clips of 12, which “range from 15 seconds to three minutes long, including two that have already aired,” from a Dropbox account “run by LMD, the agency that has been given the government contract for the ad buys.” Spots CNN described as not yet aired include “God Made Trump,” a riff on Paul Harvey's “God Made a Farmer” that CNN said was broadcast at Republicans' midterm convention in Dallas; a recap of the UFC fight Trump hosted at the White House; and “Military Hype,” which includes Trump's February speech announcing the war with Iran. The two-minute “King of the Jungle” shows images of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton and Gavin Newsom. CNN, citing two sources, said the money comes from Customs and Border Protection. CNN's report of two aired ads is lower than the five described above, and it lists a “Maduro” spot among those it obtained although CBS reported a Maduro ad airing on September 24; the counts have not been reconciled.
The Washington Post reported that DHS and OMB had originally planned to spend only $1 million on “commemorative events” and that, to add $20 million to that line on September 19, OMB drew on almost $6.7 billion the 2025 law allocated to CBP. A House budget committee report said the commemorative-events money was intended for “Line-of-Duty death memorials, Department or agency anniversaries, and commendation ceremonies.” Cerin Lindgrensavage, a lawyer with Protect Democracy, told the Post, “From our perspective, to the extent these ads are propaganda, there really isn't funding that has a permissible purpose that would include their use.”
Update (October 4, 2026): The New York Times reported on October 2, citing people familiar with the matter, that “President Donald Trump personally instructed his budget director to use taxpayer money for TV ads praising him and his presidency.” According to the Times, Trump told Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought “to come up with the money from within the government”; OMB counsel Mark Paoletta and White House counsel Will Scharf both said it would be legal to use DHS funds; and Trump and chief of staff Susie Wiles both spoke with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin about the ads. At least four spots had run at a cost of about $5.5 million, according to AdImpact and people familiar with the spending. This rests on the Times's reporting; it is consistent with the earlier CNN and Wall Street Journal accounts of Trump's personal involvement.
The Times also described an August 7 Oval Office meeting with Republican strategists, where Trump asked his aide Natalie Harp to show the group the imagery he prefers; she played White House videos, including one of UFC president Dana White calling Trump “the toughest, most resilient person that I've ever met,” a line that later appeared in an ad. “But during that meeting, the president was much more interested in looking at videos of himself,” the Times reported, as relayed by Raw Story. Reports that Harp played a “major role” in the taxpayer-funded ads go beyond what the Times described.
Update (October 6, 2026): After criticism from both parties, Trump said on October 5 that his super PAC would take over. “This is a rather standard thing to do but, rather than doing that, although nothing will make them happy, I have decided to do the Patriotic Ads, among others, and pay for them myself, and with money I raised for MAGA, Inc.,” he posted. A White House official told NBC News, “MAGA Inc. will pay for the PSA ads moving forward,” and another told CBS News the post “was not referring to reimbursing the federal government” for ads already bought. AdImpact has tracked roughly $9.7 million spent to air three taxpayer-funded ads through October 5, CNBC reported. Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) said the president “should also immediately repay the taxpayers for the amount already spent on these ads,” and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer asked the Government Accountability Office and the Office of Special Counsel to investigate: “The government is not the President's campaign committee, and the Treasury is not his campaign account.” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.): “There's no place for that sort of thing.”
Asked on October 6 whether he would repay the money already spent, Trump called the ads “really good” and “promotion for the country, done by many presidents before,” and said, “we'll decide,” the AP reported. Nearly $12 million worth of the ads had aired, according to AdImpact, out of the $20 million DHS set aside. Schumer told the AP, “Trump must return this money to the American people and there must be a full investigation into this gross waste and abuse of taxpayer dollars.” Republican Sen. Katie Britt, who chairs the subcommittee that funds DHS: “We'll take a look at that.”
A Reuters/Ipsos poll of 4,506 U.S. adults taken September 30 to October 5 found 86 percent think it is inappropriate to use taxpayer money for election-related TV ads featuring the president or his cabinet, including four out of five Republicans; 9 percent said it was appropriate, The Hill reported.
Update (October 12, 2026): on the night of October 11, U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Rochon in Manhattan ordered the administration to stop the ads, in Common Cause v. Department of Homeland Security, a suit brought by Common Cause, Robert Hunter, a Democratic candidate in Alabama, and SEIU Local 32BJ. Her temporary restraining order stayed CBP's $20 million purchase order and OMB's reallocation of the money, barred DHS funds for the five ads, and required the government to cancel any placements, “including those placements for the evening of October 11, 2026,” for 14 days. The Democratic National Committee has separately sued over the ads.
In her October 12 opinion, Rochon wrote that “Defendants do not contest the merits of Plaintiffs' claims” and found the plaintiffs likely to succeed in showing the ads “were disseminated to support Republican candidates and impact the midterm elections,” in violation of the appropriations law's ban on spending “for publicity or propaganda purposes.” The opinion records that CBP asked OMB for the money at 6:15 p.m. on September 19 and OMB approved it at 7:50 p.m. The Justice Department had argued an order was unnecessary because “the alleged offending conduct will end tomorrow,” AP reported. Rochon called DHS's statement that it had “no plans” for more buys “equivocal” and cited Trump's October 5 post calling the use of taxpayer money a “standard thing to do.” By the morning of October 12, AdImpact showed government spending on the five ads at $21,705,138, CBS reported.
Update (October 13, 2026): the ads kept airing after the order took effect. In an October 12 filing, the plaintiffs cited AdImpact data showing the ads “ran in nearly 400 spots on programs that began airing at 7 p.m. Eastern last night”: “Final Battle” in 193 spots during CBS's “60 Minutes” and “Maduro” in 198 during ABC's “America's Funniest Home Videos,” with more airings the next day. The government's status report explained, “Counsel for the Government emailed the TRO to agency counsel at 7:58 p.m. Agency counsel did not become aware of Government counsel's email until this morning. The undersigned apologizes to the Court and the plaintiffs,” and said, “The Government is in compliance with the TRO.” The plaintiffs said they “do not presently seek contempt sanctions.” Judge Rochon set a conference for October 14 and ordered that “Defendants shall be prepared to address the information in Plaintiffs' submission.” A DHS declaration filed October 10 put the airtime purchased through October 11 “at an approximate cost of $19,000,000,” below AdImpact's estimate.
Update (October 31, 2026): on October 30, at a hearing on whether to expand her temporary restraining order, Judge Rochon ordered three ads, “$5,000 to Americans,” “Every Democrat Voted Against No Tax on Tips,” and “Cost of Socialism,” taken off government websites and social media, and ordered the cancellation of any plans to air or distribute them through authorized third parties, including Trump's super PAC, MAGA Inc., the AP reported. She found the plaintiffs likely to succeed on those three and at risk of irreparable harm: “This court can neither postpone an election nor turn back the clock.” Referring to the delay in obeying her earlier order, she said, “Everyone is here. Everyone can hear my order. No one is at the theater.”
The plaintiffs had sought the removal of at least 13 ads. Rochon declined to pull the others for now, saying the plaintiffs sought to restrict the president's office in ways that were “broad and far reaching,” and that she had concluded the government will ultimately prevail on many of the ads; she said she could restore the three or bar more after hearing further evidence. White House spokesperson Lauren Bis: “This Biden-appointed activist judge issued a lawless order to stop the administration from sharing patriotic videos.”