President Trump leaves the stage after speaking at a campaign rally in Syracuse, New York on October 9, 2026.
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Alex Wong/Getty Images
Advertisements promoting President Trump and his policies continued to be funded by the U.S. government well after Trump announced he would ask his super PAC MAGA Inc. to take over funding for the ads and continued to air despite a federal judge’s order to remove them.
An NPR analysis of AdImpact data finds that nearly $22 million in taxpayer dollars has been spent to run the ads since the campaign began in late September. Nearly $10 million of that total was spent after October 5, when the president pledged to fund it privately in an article on Truth Social.
“The radical left is upset that I am taking ads, which I view as positive promotion for our great United States, and paying for them with American money,” Trump said at the time. “It’s a pretty standard thing to do but, rather than do that, even though nothing will make them happy, I decided to do patriotic ads, among other things, and pay for them myself, and with the money I raised for MAGA, Inc.”
The ads have been criticized by lawmakers on both sides, with Republicans praising the president’s choice to shift funding for the ads to an outside super PAC. But this praise was premature. Even though they made it appear as if there had been a policy change, the government-funded ads did not stop running after Trump’s message.
The White House has repeatedly called the ads public service announcements, but a lawsuit filed by Common Cause and others argued they were funded without congressional approval and violated restrictions on advertising and propaganda produced with taxpayer dollars.
The ads – five in total – cover a wide range of pro-Trump content. One includes a vivid montage of photos of the president with a chorus singing “love me” serving as the soundtrack. Another is an exact copy of an ad the Trump campaign made during the 2024 election cycle. Two of them promote military operations in Venezuela and Iran. All end with the words “Paid for by the US Government” on the screen.
The spots continued to air for several hours after a federal judge overseeing the trial issued a temporary ruling Sunday evening saying the government “shall cancel or cause to be canceled any slot, placement, reservation or arrangement for the broadcast or broadcast of the disputed advertisements, including placements for the evening of October 11, 2026.”
Pro-Trump spots aired hundreds of additional times Sunday night into the early hours of Monday morning.
“The last government-paid PSAs aired last night,” a White House official not authorized to speak publicly told NPR Monday afternoon, adding that the government “did not receive a court notice in time to reverse the ad buys. The PSAs will now be paid for by outside groups.”
The White House previously said taxpayer funds used for advertising would not be refunded. The White House also insisted that these ads were simply intended to promote patriotism. They argued that the ads could not be related to the campaign because the president was not running for office this year and had nothing to do with next month’s midterm elections. But Trump has repeatedly implored voters to vote as if he were on the ballot, and his low approval ratings have sent Republicans down across the country.
A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll found that these ads are rather unpopular. The poll asked whether it was appropriate or inappropriate to use “taxpayer dollars to fund election-related television ads featuring the president or members of his cabinet.” It wasn’t even close, as 86% of Americans said it was inappropriate. Even 80% of Republicans said the ads were inappropriate.
It’s rare to get such bipartisan agreement on anything these days.
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