Thune Condemns Trump’s Use of Taxpayer Funds for White House Hype Ads

The Senate majority leader, Senator John Thune, is taking the rare step of breaking with the president. Mr. Thune on Monday said he did not like the White House’s use of taxpayer money to run two advertisements featuring Mr. Trump ahead of the midterms — a rare rebuke from the majority leader. Mr. Trump began running the ads last week, first with a more upbeat message featuring the song “Love Me” by the singer JMSN, who promptly denounced the White House’s use of his song. He said in a post on Instagram that he would have lawyers deal with the matter. The first ad features photos and videos of Mr. Trump with the president himself narrating. The voiceover was recorded at one of Mr. Trump’s speeches. “Together, we will defeat communism, socialism, and Marxism in America,” he says in the ad. Dozens of photos of Mr. Trump then flash across the screen only briefly pausing to highlight parts of Mr. Trump’s record. “Largest Tax Cuts In History,” reads one. “Reigniting American Manufacturing,” reads another. It ends with UFC owner Dana White, a friend of the president, declaring that the president is the “toughest most resilient person” he has ever known.At the bottom of the screen as the video fades to black, the text “Paid for by the U.S. Government” is shown at the bottom of the frame. Days later, a second ad began running, again featuring Mr. Trump exclusively. The black-and-white video shows the president staring directly into the camera as he walks down a hallway with another clip of one of his old campaign speeches narrating the 30-second spot. Mr. Trump says America will wage its “final battle” against “globalists” and “warmongers” in the speech. Again, the ad ends with the text, “Paid for by the U.S. Government” at the bottom of the frame. The ad spending tracking firm AdImpact estimates that at least $1.7 million has been spent to run the ads on channels like Newsmax and Fox, and during Sunday morning cable shows and football games. Mr. Thune on Monday made clear that he is not a fan of the use of taxpayer money, even though he agrees with the overall message Mr. Trump is presenting. “It’s a great message. I like the message,” Mr. Thune told reporters Monday, “but it shouldn’t be paid for with taxpayer dollars.”The White House claims that the ads are simply “public service announcements” even though they are clearly political in nature, as they feature the president heavily and list the administration’s record shortly before the midterms. It is illegal to use taxpayer dollars for political advertisements. In an X post on Sunday, White House communications director Steven Cheung called the ads “epic” and linked to a White House memo detailing the history of public service announcements by past administrations. The memo lists public service announcements from the Biden, Obama, and George W. Bush administrations, though those ads were about informing people of how to handle changes to federal law and regulations so Americans better understand bureaucratic issues. The Biden administration ran ads detailing vaccine rollout efforts, while the Obama and Bush administrations used public service announcements to detail changes to federal healthcare laws. Most notably, none of those three predecessors to Mr. Trump were featured in those public service announcement campaigns. Mr. Thune isn’t the only Republican disapproving of the use of taxpayer money for the ads. On Sunday, Senator John Kennedy — who helped get Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem fired for her use of taxpayer money for ads featuring herself — condemned Mr. Trump’s new advertisements. “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,” Mr. Kennedy said on CBS News’s “Face the Nation.”

Thune Condemns Trump’s Use of Taxpayer Funds for White House Hype Ads

Thune Condemns Trump’s Use of Taxpayer Funds for White House Hype Ads

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