Behind the scenes: Trump — a former reality TV producer who has long focused on how things happen on television — took an active role in the ad campaign.
- The ads are produced inside the White House.
- Trump liked the videos that the White House digital team — which regularly posts aggressive, war room-style social media posts — was producing and began posting them to his Truth Social account.
- He then decided to broadcast them on television and chose the videos he wanted to broadcast.
- The decision was made a few weeks ago and the advertisements began broadcasting on September 23.
Zoom: The administration released three ads highlighting Trump touting his record and echoing themes of his campaign rhetoric, including warnings about “communism, socialism and Marxism.”
- One closely mirrors a 2024 Trump campaign ad in which he promises to take on the “deep state,” “globalists” and “warmongers” — but replaces the campaign’s sponsorship slogan with a disclaimer that reads: “Paid for by the US government.”
Between the lines: The Department of Homeland Security makes the ad buys using money from an existing budget, according to the administration official.
- A DHS spokesperson referred Axios to a White House statement defending the ads.
- “Patriotism is not partisan. These public service announcements are unapologetically American, clearly disclosed and intended for the country – not a line on the ballot,” the statement said.
- The White House also noted that previous Democratic administrations used government money to broadcast public service announcements.
State of play: The government spent at least $2.5 million to run these ads, according to an estimate from ad tracking company AdImpact.
- The ads aired more than 2,000 times on broadcast networks and more than 50 times on cable.
- The biggest program spend was Fox’s NFL coverage over the weekend, with 340 broadcasts.
- The football surge comes as Republicans invest millions in advertising during NFL and college football games in an effort to reach male voters.
Point of friction: The ads drew criticism from within the GOP, including from Senate Majority Leader John Thune (RS.D.).
- Thune praised the message behind the ads, but said they “should not be paid for with taxpayer dollars.”
- Democratic lawmakers, for their part, said the ads were an illegal use of taxpayer dollars and called the videos “the kind of government propaganda you would expect in North Korea.”
Yes, but: The roughly $2.5 million spent so far is just a tiny fraction of the more than $100 million Trump’s political operation is pumping in during the midterms.
The bottom line: Republicans say outrage is part of the problem: Every time a channel or cable show covers the ads, it gives them extra airtime for free.
- “When CNN takes a segment of it, they air the whole thing and it’s great,” the administration official said.
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