Taxpayers Fund $1.8 Billion in Vanity Projects Plus One 30-Second 'Love Me' Ad
Critics describe the new TV spot as North Korea-style propaganda
Outrage mounted Friday over a taxpayer-funded television advertisement glorifying President Donald Trump. The 30-second spot, which aired this week on outlets including Fox News, Newsmax, and CBS, features a dizzying montage of the President at rallies and White House events. It includes images of him alongside military personnel and captions reading, "AMERICA WILL NEVER BE A COMMUNIST COUNTRY." The refrain of R&B singer JMSN’s “Love Me” plays over these rapid-fire images. The spot concludes with a voiceover from Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White praising Trump as “the toughest, most resilient person that I’ve ever met.” At the bottom of the screen, an alarming disclosure appears, reading, "Paid for by the US government."
The White House dismissed criticism of the ad, which aired ahead of November's midterm elections, by calling the spot a "public service announcement." Administration officials said the message is intended to remind Americans “to love their country and understand what makes it worth defending.” However, the financial context suggests there is more at play than simple patriotism. The clip is part of a broader pattern of spending that includes the White House ballroom, a vanity project estimated to cost over $1.8 billion. That is money that could have been spent lowering costs for Americans instead of paying for a pop song.
On Friday, US Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Jack Reed (D-RI), along with Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), excoriated the clip in a joint statement. "This is the sort of government propaganda one might expect in North Korea, not the United States of America, and it is an egregious and utterly illegal misuse of Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars," the four senior congressional appropriators wrote. "The law is not complicated," the lawmakers added. "You cannot use taxpayer dollars for political advertisements." Federal appropriations law, including the funding bill Trump signed earlier this year, prohibits the use of government funds for unauthorized "publicity or propaganda purposes." The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has interpreted this prohibition to encompass communications whose obvious purpose is "self-aggrandizement" or "puffery," as well as "purely partisan" communications.
Consumer advocacy watchdog group Public Citizen filed a complaint with the GAO on Friday alleging the ad "violates laws prohibiting the use of government resources for propaganda, the Hatch Act, and other related laws." "Whether or not President Trump was personally involved in the ad, it was conceived, produced, and distributed by Trump’s White House staff," Public Citizen noted. US Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) echoed these sentiments on social media. "Every taxpayer, no matter your party, should be outraged by this," he stated. "Your money is being used to fund campaign ads for Trump. It’s totally, completely [illegal]. He’s stealing your money for his campaign."
Sarah Stein, co-host of "The Bulwark Podcast," described the ad as "pure cult propaganda." Stein noted that Trump's approval rating has plunged below 30%. "People are abandoning him," Stein said. "Members of his own party are starting to distance themselves from him, and he uses that moment to have an ad [saying] please love me... It's desperate." Tim Miller, Stein's co-host, called the ad "alarming" and "Orwellian." Virginia Kase Solomón, president and CEO of the advocacy group Common Cause, offered a similar critique. "Taxpayer dollars should never be used to bolster the president’s self-esteem because his ego has been damaged," she said. "Running political messaging stamped with ‘Paid for by the US Government’ dangerously crosses the line from public service into authoritarian self-promotion."
The controversy has also struck a cultural chord. JMSN, whose real name is Christian Berishaj, revealed that he never authorized Trump to use “Love Me.” The musician wrote that he would “never authorize my music to be used for ANY political agenda or campaign.” "I am looking at lawyers," JMSN added, "and handling this internally." Meanwhile, the ad’s heavy-handed anti-communist messaging has drawn scrutiny for its timing and context. The clip aired as Trump rolled out the red carpet at a state dinner for Chinese President Ji Xinping, who is also the secretary general of the Chinese Communist Party. Jezebel's Danielle Han pointed out the irony. "The clip’s heavy-handed anti-communist messaging also strikes a wildly hypocritical note, if not for anything but the fact that the Supreme Leader that ran it followed up by hosting China’s Xi Jinping with open arms, a flyover of US military planes, and a statue of a bald eagle."
Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) weighed in on the spending, noting that the advertisement serves as a "troubling example of President Trump’s growing list of expensive vanity projects." The disconnect between the high cost of these projects and the legal justification for the ad highlights a deep divide in how taxpayer money is currently being spent. While the White House frames it as a patriotic duty, critics view it as a calculated political maneuver. As the midterm elections approach, the debate over the legality and propriety of taxpayer-funded political ads is likely to intensify. The dispute centers on the interpretation of federal law and the precise boundaries of executive power in political messaging.
First reported by r/politics.
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