GOP senators push back on Trump’s taxpayer-funded ad

President Trump’s new government-funded ads pledging to “cast out the communists, Marxists and fascists” are getting strong pushback from Senate Republicans who are warning the president not to use taxpayer money to promote himself in such a brazenly political way.

While Republicans generally approve of Trump’s political message, they say using taxpayer dollars to fund a series of ads that closely resemble Trump’s past campaign advertising right before the midterm elections is inappropriate.

“It’s a great message, I like the message, but it shouldn’t be paid for by taxpayer dollars,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters Monday.

The White House, however, argues the ads — which ran over the weekend during “Fox News Sunday” and several college and NFL football games — are “very clearly not campaign ads” and instead “a reminder for Americans to love their country and know why it’s worth defending.”

Republican senators are not buying that argument, and warn that it creates an improper appearance to be using taxpayer money to pay for television ads that could easily be confused with regular campaign ads, even though Trump himself is not on the ballot.

“It would not have been something that I would have done,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.). “I know that the White House is not covered by the same guidance that we are, but it’s not something I would have done.”

“I just don’t think it’s right to be using taxpayer money in that way, particularly if it’s tied to political campaigns,” he added. “I think they need to rethink that strategy.”

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said using taxpayer money to fund a television ad that’s nearly identical to the ad that Trump posted to social media during his presidential campaign and echoes the rhetoric he has used at election-year rallies crosses a red line.

“We all know you’re not supposed to use taxpayer money for that purpose,” the Republican senator noted.

Cornyn said he doesn’t know exactly where the money to produce and air the ads is coming from but added “if it comes from taxpayers, it shouldn’t.”

The latest advertisement, which ran on television over the weekend, is part of a series of ads that come with the disclaimer: “Paid by the U.S. Government.”

It is nearly identical to an online ad that Trump posted to his Truth Social account in January 2024, when he was preparing to launch his presidential campaign. In that online ad, he urged supporters to text “TRUMP to 88022” to support his campaign.

The ad features Trump walking down hallway while an audio clip plays of a speech he delivered at an unidentified event pledging: “This is the final battle. With you at my side, we will demolish the deep state, we will expel the warmongers from our government. We will drive out the globalists, we will cast out the communists, Marxists and fascists.”

“We will liberate America from these villains once and for all,” Trump is heard declaring as an unseen audience cheers in the background.

The latest iteration of the ad, however, ends with a disclaimer informing viewers that it was “paid for by the U.S. government.”

The White House aired its first ad of the new series last week — a 30-second television spot that featured a montage of pictures of the president, interspersed with Trump’s declaration that “together we will defeat communism, socialism and Marxism in America” and that “America will never be a communist country.”

The ad was paired with the song “Love Me” by JMSN and ended with a voiceover of UFC President Dana White extolling Trump as the “toughest, most resilient person I have ever met.”

The White House responded to criticisms in a statement.

“The attacks on President Donald J. Trump’s public service announcements are highly dishonest. The announcements are very clearly not campaign ads; President Trump is not on the ballot and there is no call to action,” the White House argued.

The White House noted that the George W. Bush administration ran a national television campaign explaining the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act to seniors — one of former President Bush’s signature legislative accomplishments — in March 2004, when Bush was up for reelection later that year.

The White House also pointed out that the Obama administration used national advertising to promote subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2015 and the start of open enrollment under the ACA in 2016.

Republican Sen. John Curtis (Utah) said constituents “are worried about affordability and they don’t want to be worried about how their taxpayer dollars are being spent.”

“If it were me as a senator, it would be a problem,” he said of using taxpayer money to fund ads that appear to be political in nature.

“I don’t know their rules as well as I know mine, but I know mine would prohibit that,” he added.

A Senate GOP aide who requested anonymity to discuss the matter said the new Trump promotional ads paid for by the federal government appear “very similar” in nature to the promotional ads that then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ran last year to tout her leadership of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Trump fired Noem after she was grilled about the expenditure of public funds for the promotional ad blitz, which was estimated to cost more than $220 million.

Republican Sen. John Kennedy (La.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who challenged Noem over DHS’s advertising campaign in March, said he disagreed with the Trump administration’s use of public funds for the new series of ads.

“I don’t think any public official, including President Trump … should spend public money on private ads for themselves,” Kennedy said Sunday on CBS News’s “Face the Nation.”

“The White House sees it differently,” he added.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called on the Justice Department to investigate whether the use of taxpayer money to pay for ads promoting rhetoric similar to what Trump has used at political events violates the law.

“There should be a full investigation because on its face it appears to be a violation of federal law,” she said.

“The Department of Justice, the folks that enforce federal law, should be the ones” to lead the investigation, she said.

“This is the problem when the attorney general says his duty of loyalty is not to the people of the United States but instead is to Donald Trump personally,” she added, referring to Attorney General Todd Blanche.

Richard Painter, a White House ethics lawyer who served under Bush, wrote on social platform X that the use of taxpayer money to promote the president’s political message shortly before the midterm election “could be an impeachable offense.”

“@POTUS has no right to use taxpayer money for campaign ads. Congress has expressly prohibited government sponsored political propaganda, which is dangerous for democracy,” he warned.