Trump’s taxpayer-funded TV ads drew so much flak he’s making his super PAC pick up the tab
Well, that's one way to handle the backlash.
President Donald Trump says his political organization, MAGA Inc., will pay for television advertisements that his administration had been funding with taxpayer money after the spots drew criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike. Trump announced the change Monday, saying the ads would no longer be paid for with government funds.
The advertisements have aired nationally since September and feature Trump promoting his administration and its policies. The White House has defended them as “public service announcements,” arguing that they are not campaign ads because Trump is not on the ballot and the spots do not explicitly ask viewers to vote for him.
But the ads have faced mounting scrutiny because of their political messaging and their timing ahead of the November midterm elections. According to Reuters, more than $10 million had been spent on the ads by October 5 under a federal contract worth $20 million.
The money is changing hands
Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he had decided to continue the ads while paying for them himself and with money raised for MAGA Inc., his political action committee. He described the ads as “positive promotion for our Great U.S.A.” and said using government money had been a “rather standard thing to do.”
The decision came after lawmakers from both parties questioned whether taxpayer money should be used for the spots. Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune previously said the advertisements should not be paid for with taxpayer dollars, while Democratic lawmakers called for investigations into their funding.
The ads have also drawn scrutiny to the Federal Communications Commission. FCC Chair Brendan Carr dismissed concerns that the spots warranted agency review, saying they appeared to be ordinary government public service announcements, a position previously covered amid the growing criticism of the ads.
The money is still in question
One of the advertisements features Trump declaring that the United States will never be a communist country, while another closely resembles a 2024 Trump campaign advertisement. That spot shows Trump walking down a hallway while warning about a “final battle” against what he calls “globalists” and “warmongers.”
The administration has previously used official government platforms to promote its agenda, including a White House online arcade launched in September with games built around Trump administration talking points. For now, Trump’s announcement changes who will pay for future advertisements but does not address the federal money already spent on the campaign. Nearly $12 million in taxpayer funds had been spent as of Monday, while Trump had not committed to reimbursing the government for that money.
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