Convicted felon and sexual predator president Donald J. Trump has again illegally used government funds to pay for political an ad on Fox News and other right-wing news outlets. This one recycles a 2024 black and white ad with dire warnings about what will happen if voters turn on him.
The ad is the third in a series of illegal “public service ads” that are political, not informative. Federal law prohibits such actions.
“The president and his administration have gone from breaking the law to trampling it,” Norm Eisen, a former White House special counsel for ethics and government reform told The New York Times.“The prior ad was bad enough, but this one openly repurposes prior political conduct.”
Eisen, who served in the Obama administration has sued the Trump administration several times for his the disgraced president’s blatant illegal actions.
As President Trump ran to return to the White House in 2024, his campaign released a somber, black-and-white ad in which he railed against the “deep state” and vowed to expel “warmongers” from government.
“This is the final battle,” Mr. Trump is heard saying in the online ad, which shows him walking silently down a hallway.
That ad has returned this weekend, airing on television stations across the country, with one notable difference: As it ends, the words “Paid for by the U.S. Government” appear on the screen.
The spot is the latest in a series of pro-Trump ads funded by public money. Some ethics experts have argued that the Trump administration is violating federal laws banning the use of taxpayer dollars for propaganda, and the ads have drawn criticism from both parties. The most recent ad, one expert argued, is a more flagrant violation given its prior use in the political arena.
The ad aired during “Fox News Sunday,” “Saturday Night Live” and several college and NFL football games this weekend, including the Seattle Seahawks versus Washington Commanders contest and the Ohio State-Illinois matchup, according to data from the ad-analytics firm AdImpact.
The White House has defended the ads, saying in a statement it reissued Sunday that the spots are “public service announcements” that are “reminding Americans to love their country and understand what makes it worth defending, at home, at our borders, and abroad.” The White House said that there was no “call to action” in the ads.
But Richard Painter, a former White House ethics lawyer under George W. Bush, said the use of federal funds for the ads could be an “abuse of power” and “an impeachable offense.” He urged Congress to demand a reimbursement for the spending.
“This is very dangerous,” Mr. Painter, a law professor at the University of Minnesota, said in a phone interview on Sunday. “We do not allow government-sponsored propaganda in the United States.”
Such activity is normal for Trump. He continues to act as a wannabe dictator without answering to Congress or courts, including the Supreme Court. Even some Republican members of Congress express disdain for his actions but they lack the votes to stop him.
“I don’t think any public official, including President Trump or Kristi Noem or John Kennedy, should spend public money on private ads for themselves,” Republican Senator John Kennedy told CBS News on Sunday. “Now, the White House sees it differently. But I think there ought to be a rule that you can’t — well there probably is a rule — that you can’t spend public money to promote yourself.”
In The Washington Post, Katherine Doyle reported:
Last year, the Department of Homeland Security led by then-secretary Kristi L. Noem spent more than $200 million on ads that prominently featured her on horseback warning that individuals who broke U.S. laws would be “hunted down and deported.”
Under questioning from Kennedy in March, Noem testified that Trump had signed off on the campaign. That prompted Trump to criticize the spending. Not long after, he fired her.
Noem, obviiously, could not use taxpayer funds, but Trump doesn’t think laws apply to him.
“I am the president,” Trump declares. “When I want to do something, I do it.” He ignores Congress, the Constitution, the law and the courts, including the Supreme Court.
