Propaganda

Trump's New Ads Look Like Campaign Spots. Taxpayers Are Paying for Them.

With midterm voting underway, the distinction between public service announcements and campaign ads blurs.

Tosin Akintola | 9.28.2026 3:30 PM

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(Illustration: WUSA9/Youtube/The White House)

On Sunday, instead of ads for pizza deals from Papa John's or the latest insurance pitch from Jake at State Farm, fans watching their favorite NFL or college football teams were shown a 30-second, black-and-white video of President Donald Trump. The ad, nearly identical to an ad released by the Trump presidential campaign in 2024, shows the president silently walking down a hallway, while his voiceover warns of a "final battle" to "cast out the communists, Marxists, and fascists" and "liberate America from these villains once and for all." 

There was one noticeable difference. The ad that aired Sunday was "Paid for by the U.S. Government," courtesy of American taxpayers. It's the latest of several ads the White House has recently published, including a minute-long ad with quotes and clips of old Trump speeches that began airing last Friday and a 30-second ad that debuted last week—set to JMSN's "Love Me"—with clips of the president at campaign rallies and speeches and on-screen text crediting him with passing the "largest tax cuts in history"........

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