A television ad promoting President Donald Trump aired Wednesday night and early Thursday on Fox News and Newsmax. The spot ends with a disclaimer declaring the ad was “paid for by the U.S. government.” Sparking anger and outrage, the ad has one top Democratic congressman warning the spot might violate federal law and two Republican senators questioning its appropriateness.
“This may be felony criminal theft and conversion of government property for political campaign purposes,” wrote U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee and a former constitutional law professor. “It is a Hatch Act violation for any government employees who worked on it or used government resources to make it. It is blatantly unethical under numerous federal ethics provisions proscribing the use of government resources for political campaigns.”
The Washington Post reported the ad also aired in the Los Angeles and Chicago markets, “despite a federal prohibition on using taxpayer dollars for ‘publicity or propaganda.’”
“There is no immediate precedent for a government-sponsored political ad during a campaign,” the Post noted.
Two Republican U.S. senators also questioned the appropriateness of the ad.
U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC), referring to the far-right former Hungarian prime minister, told the Associated Press that “using taxpayer dollars, it feels like Viktor Orban.”
The AP also reported that U.S. Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) “questioned whether it was legal.”
“I don’t generally like to see politicians use public money to pay for their own campaign ads,” he told the AP.
As singers repeat the words “love me,” from the song by JMSN, the ad flashes image after image of President Trump. In it, Trump vows, “Together we will defeat communism, socialism and Marxism in America,” and declares, “America will never be a communist country.”
“Just hours earlier,” The Lincoln Project noted, “Trump rolled out the red carpet for a communist.”
Once again, Trump had members of the U.S. military on their hands and knees rolling out a red carpet for an authoritarian leader. Last year, it was for Russia’s Vladimir Putin, and on Wednesday it was for China’s Xi Jinping.
The ad closes with audio from UFC CEO Dana White’s 2024 Republican National Convention speech, in which White called Trump the “toughest, most resilient person that I’ve ever met.”
Trump’s ad also promotes what he has, reportedly falsely, claimed are the “largest tax cuts in history.”
Mediaite reported the ad “aired during the overnight broadcasts of Jesse Watters Primetime, Hannity and Gutfeld! on Fox News early Thursday.”
Critics blasted the ad.
“Unmistakable signs you live under an authoritarian, fascist government,” warned MS NOW analyst Fernand R. Amandi.
“We're really deep into the banana republic zone here,” observed New York Times contributing opinion writer Matthew Yglesias.
Florida Democratic Party chairwoman Nikki Fried called the ad “pure communist propaganda” that is “right out of the Florida Republican playbook.”
CBS Miami journalist Jim DeFede posted a copy of the ad to social media.
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