The U.S.-government-funded Trump ad aired Wednesday on Fox News and Newsmax; a second ran on CBS Thursday. Democratic appropriators demanded the first be pulled, while AdImpact said media spending on it rose from $14,000 to $430,000 by Friday.
The 30-second ad says “America will never be a communist country” and claims Trump reignited U.S. manufacturing, defended law and order, and delivered the largest tax cuts in history. Democratic members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees wrote to Chief of Staff Susie Wiles on Friday, saying federal law bars taxpayer-funded “publicity or propaganda.” They demanded discipline for federal employees who, they said, knowingly violated the law while working on or paying for the ad.
The White House called the ads educational, patriotic public-service announcements meant to remind Americans to love their country and understand why it is worth defending. A White House official reportedly said they were not political, noting Trump is not on the ballot and there is no call to action; Trump has repeatedly told his base to vote as if he were. The minute-long CBS ad featured Trump at Mount Rushmore and footage from the U.S. military's Jan. 3 capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife.
