White House releases new taxpayer-funded ad praising Trump’s war on Iran | Trump administration

The latest in a series of pro-Trump television ads airing with taxpayer money in the run-up to the midterm elections is a one-minute spot that celebrates Donald Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran.

The ad aired during a commercial break on Fox News Wednesday night, according to a video posted online by MeidasTouch, a left-leaning media outlet.

A copy of the new ad posted on social media by Medium Buying, a company that buys airtime for Republican candidates, features an audio clip of the president’s Feb. 28 statement that the U.S. military had launched significant combat operations in Iran.

“This regime will soon learn that no one should challenge the strength and might of the American armed forces,” Trump can be heard saying of combat footage, some of which appears to be dramatizations or computer-generated. A cover version of John Lee Hooker’s Boom Boom provides the soundtrack.

The audio then cuts to comments made by Pete Hegseth, the US Secretary of Defense, during a briefing on the third day of the war. “He reminded the world, as he has time and time again, that being an American means something unbreakable,” Hegseth says of slow-motion footage of Trump walking down a hallway.

“If you kill Americans, if you threaten Americans anywhere on Earth, we will hunt you down without apology and without hesitation and we will kill you,” Hegseth said. “We did not start this war, but under President Trump, we are finishing it. Their war against the Americans has become our revenge against their Ayatollah.”

As the words “Paid for by the U.S. Government” appear at the bottom of the screen, the sound of the ad returns to Trump’s call for regime change in Iran during his war announcement in February.

“To the great and proud people of Iran, I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand,” Trump can be heard saying, against a backdrop of dramatic music and images of Iranian Americans in New York celebrating the March 1 U.S. strikes. “When we’re done, take control of your government. It’ll be yours to take.”

Images of Iranian Americans protesting in support of Trump’s war in New York, marching down 42nd Street and holding signs reading “Thank you President Trump,” were all featured in a White House video posted to YouTube on March 4.

The ad’s focus on celebratory speeches and images that all took place within the first three days of the war, when it looked like Iran’s government might collapse, raises questions about why the administration is releasing this ad as the war enters its seventh month and continues to alienate many Trump supporters.