President Trump has raised hundreds of millions in PAC money, but he’s using taxpayer dollars to run political ads, apparently to help Republicans who are being dragged down by his historically horrible approval ratings.
You can almost hear the frustrated president demanding that his aides do something — anything — to convince Americans that he is on their side, despite all the evidence that he cares more about his own engorged bank account and metastasizing monuments than he does about struggling families.
The ads being run by the White House are “sheer propaganda,” in the words of a former Bush administration official. One ad is basically a rerun of a 2024 campaign ad, but this time it is being paid for by U.S. taxpayers. That is us footing the bill for his campaign ads.
The administration is reportedly using $20 million that is designated by Congress for “border security upgrades, efforts to combat drug trafficking and memorials for officers killed in the line of duty,” according to the Washington Post, to pay for the ads. It is a naked violation of the law, but that is routine for this administration.
Another defining characteristic of the MAGA era is that Trump forces people around him to tell humiliatingly obvious lies in order to stay in his good graces. In this case, that includes a White House official who insists that the new ads aren’t political ads — the spokesperson says the ads are “reminding Americans to love their country.”
That is laughable. Trump has been telling MAGA voters to pretend he is on the ballot. These ads are clearly an effort to boost his personal standing and turn out his most loyal voters.
With Trump’s disapproval rating at over 60 percent, that would probably take better ads than these. In the version that recycles a 2024 campaign ad, Trump’s team didn’t even bother to update the message — Trump is heard pledging to “expel the warmongers from our government.”
Given the “lethality”-obsessed warmonger Trump has installed at the Pentagon, this, too, is laughable. But it’s not very funny to Americans who are suffering from high gas prices and other impacts of Trump’s war on Iran — and who are being asked to pay a mind-boggling amount of money to restock our depleted weapons supply.
Sadly, the political campaign ads are not the only way Trump is taking money from taxpayers to pay for political propaganda.
In September, the White House used government money to launch Trump TV, an official propaganda channel dedicated to streaming a never-ending torrent of Trump’s favorite content — himself.
Days later, the colossally corrupt Trump family business empire sought to trademark the channel’s name. That is just one more way to cash in.
All of this corruption would be terrible news, even if it were not accompanied by attacks on freedom of the press and heavy-handed efforts to squelch media coverage Trump doesn’t like.
Just before the regime launched Trump TV, it banned reporters from CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House and presidential events. These major American media outlets were blocked from entering the White House, even as Chinese state media were welcomed to cover President Xi Jinping’s visit.
A federal judge’s temporary restraining order was eventually obeyed by the White House, which has allowed some access to the targeted news outlets, at least until the order expires on Oct. 8.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press is still operating under restrictions imposed by the White House last year as punishment for the news outlet’s decision not to go along with Trump’s unilateral renaming of the Gulf of Mexico.
Congressional Republicans have demonstrated repeatedly their unwillingness to criticize Trump’s corruption and lawbreaking. Even so, his ban on media outlets and use of tax dollars to pay for political ads are egregious enough that they managed to crack — barely and briefly — the wall of silence.
We need much more of that. But we’re not likely to get it right now. Republican officeholders might find it wise to put some distance between themselves and the deeply unpopular president. But who wants to risk his wrath, or jeopardize the chance to get some of the hundreds of millions of dollars he and his allies are dumping into the elections to buy him a two-year reprieve from accountability.
They are hoping they can prove once again the adage that money talks. It’s up to voters to prove that inspired and organized people can beat big money. We have a month. Let’s do it!
