Trump uses public funds for 'Love me' ad that promotes himself - USA Today
WASHINGTON − The Trump administration is using public dollars to pay for a television ad that features President Donald Trump urging Americans to "defeat communism," while touting his economic record and personal resilience, as a choir in the background recites the verse "Love me."
A White House official confirmed the ad, which reads "Paid for by the U.S. Government" at the end, was produced by the administration and funded with federal dollars. It appears to mark an extraordinary breach of White House practice under previous presidents separating public funding from political advertising.
Yet the White House is disputing that the ad, airing less than six weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm election, is political content ‒ which would make it illegal under federal law that prohibits taxpayer dollars for political advertisements.
Instead, a White House official called the ad a "public service announcement," arguing it does not promote a political message because there's no call to action and Trump is not on the November ballot.
In the 30-second ad, which was clipped and posted online by a CBS News reporter in Miami, Trump says: "Together we will defeat communism, socialism and Marxism in America. America will never be a communist country" ‒ a line he has used often to attack Democrats ahead of the midterms.
Trump stops narrating about 10 seconds into the ad as pictures of the president flicker rapidly while a choir sings "Love me" over and over with a dramatic crescendo.
Several messages are then flashed across the screen ‒"LARGEST TAX CUTS IN HISTORY. REIGNITING AMERICAN MANUFACTURING. DEFEND LAW AND ORDER" ‒ and a repeated line that, "AMERICA WILL NEVER BE A COMMUNIST COUNTRY."
The voice of Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White, a close ally of Trump, then emerges: "This is the toughest, most resilient person that I've ever met, and nothing is going to stop him from fighting so hard for the country that he loves," White says, referring to Trump, before the ad ends.
Although Trump is not on the November ballot, the president has urged his supporters to "pretend" he's on the ballot in a bid to energize them about an election that is showing signs of a potential blue wave for Democrats. At the end of a Republican midterm convention in Dallas this month, he had attendees raise their hands and recite a pledge of allegiance to Trump.
The White House did not disclose how much the government is spending on the ad, nor did the White House say whether the ad is airing nationally or in certain states.
Jim DeFede, the Miami-based CBS News reporter who shared the clip, said he captured the ad on Fox News during Jesse Watters Primetime. The gubernatorial and Senate races in Florida are closer than many political prognosticators expected, according to recent polling, but not among the most closely contested battleground midterm states.
Democrats slammed the ad and demanded the White House take it off the airwaves.
“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 utterly illegal misuse of Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars,” Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, vice chair of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, and other Democratic lawmakers wrote in a Sept. 24 letter to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
The letter pointed to a part of the 2026 federal appropriations law that says no government funds can be used for "publicity or propaganda purposes within the United States not heretofore authorized by Congress.”
The White House compared Trump's ad to past "public service announcements" of former presidents Joe Biden (promoting the COVID-19 vaccine), George W. Bush (one regarding Medicare, and an anti-drug campaign) and Barack Obama (a new water rule that featured an online video). The White House also argued the Trump commercial is no different than President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Office of War Information, which produced films, radio programs and posters to promote U.S. efforts in World War II.
But the Trump administration's ad appears to be foremost about promoting Trump, not a specific government policy, like the cited examples.
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
