Football fans might have been a bit surprised on Sunday when an ad featuring President Donald Trump was aired several times. While a television advertisement in the weeks leading up to the midterms is not out of place, the fact that it featured a person who is not up for election and that it was paid for by the government raised some eyebrows. Here is a look at the ad and the controversy that it has created.

White House Under Fire for Using Taxpayer Money to Pay for Trump Political Ad

The midterm elections are five weeks away, prompting both parties to ratchet up their advertising as they try to sway the undecided voters. An ad aired on Sunday, September 27, put President Trump in the spotlight, despite the fact that this is not a presidential election year. The 30-second ad, mirroring a commercial he used during his past campaign, aired during several NFL games.

The Trump voiceover warned viewers of a "final battle," asking Americans to step up and defeat "the deep state," "villains," and Marxism. The black-and-white ad conveyed fear and evil, a common tactic that has been used by Republicans over the years to encourage their base to get out and vote.

"This is the final battle," according to Trump. The president went on to say, "With you at my side, we will demolish the deep state. We will expel the warmongers from our government. We will cast out the communists, Marxists and fascists. We will throw off the sick political class that hates our country. We will rout the fake news media, and we will liberate America from these villains, once and for all."

Democrats are now calling out the White House for using taxpayer money to pay for the ad. The federal government prohibits the use of public money to pay for political advertisements. In addition, the Hatch Act bans federal employees from participating in political activity. As such, it was not surprising that Democrats reacted strongly to the "Paid for by the U.S. Government" tagline on the ad.

"This is the sort of government propaganda one might expect in North Korea, not the United States of America, and it is an egregious and utterly illegal misuse of Americans' hard-earned tax dollars," said Sen. Patty Murray, vice chair of the Senate Committee on Appropriations. The Democrat from Washington state was joined by some of her Democratic colleagues in a letter addressed to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. The letter highlighted a section of the 2026 federal appropriations law that mandates that no government funds be used for "publicity or propaganda purposes within the United States not heretofore authorized by Congress."

White House Defends Controversial Television Ad

The Trump administration is defending the ad by saying that it is merely a public service announcement. They argue that the content is not political, as there is no defined call to action, nor is Trump on the ballot.

The White House leaned on this same defense last week when it was put on the hot seat about another government-funded ad. That particular ad told Americans to "defeat communism" as it praised the president for his economic record since returning to the Oval Office.

While the White House is defending the ads and the use of taxpayer money to fund them, some Republicans are breaking with the administration on the issue. Sen. John Kennedy appeared on CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday, saying that "I don't think any public official, including President Trump ... should spend public money on private ads for themselves."  The Republican from Louisiana acknowledged that the White House is not in agreement with him on this issue.  

Consumer rights advocacy group Public Citizen filed a complaint with the Government Accountability Office last week, contending that the latest ads violate the Hatch Act and federal laws that ban the use of government resources for propaganda purposes. The progressive-leaning group called the ads "an affront to taxpayers and our democracy.”

A spokesperson for the White House defended the ads, saying that the goal was to remind Americans why the U.S. is worth defending. This anonymous official said that the ad was  "educational and unapologetically patriotic."

The Trump administration said that these ads are similar to the public service announcements aired by former President Joe Biden to promote the COVID-19 vaccine, as well as ads featuring former President George W. Bush in support of Medicare and an anti-drug initiative. The White House went to draw parallels to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Office of War Information, a group that put out radio programs, films, and paper propaganda to curry favor about the U.S. involvement in World War II.

Critics say that while those past efforts were aimed at specific government policies, the latest Trump ads are centered around defeating the president's political enemies.

The midterms are scheduled for Tuesday, November 3. Republicans have been in panic mode as recent polling shows that they are in real danger of losing control of at least one chamber of Congress. The president's approval ratings have hit a historic low in recent weeks as the unpopular war with Iran drags on with no end in sight and the economy continues to sputter.

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