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Vice President JD Vance told reporters on Monday that he sees no problem with the campaign-style TV ads featuring President Donald Trump that are being produced using taxpayer dollars and airing ahead of the midterm elections.
In defending the ads, Vance compared them to informative government-funded commercials, like those that promoted the Affordable Care Act (ACA) during the Obama and Biden administrations. However, those ads provided information about enrollment, eligibility, and more, while the Trump ads in question primarily promote the president and attack his perceived political enemies.
“I don’t think there’s anything unusual or unorthodox about it,” Vance said, recognizing that “some people probably don’t like it.”
“But if you look at the message of those advertisements, they are not partisan; it’s not like we’re advocating for a particular candidate,” he added.
Vance also claimed the ads are “trying to tell a story about how great the United States of America is.”
According to sources speaking to The New York Timeswith knowledge of how Trump’s ads were produced, the funding for the ads came from the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) budget. The ads have so far run on cable news networks, nationally broadcast sporting events, and other programs.
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Federal law prohibits the use of taxpayer funds to produce promotional, overtly political material. Notably, some of the taxpayer-funded ads in question have featured audio of the president, then as a candidate, giving a stump speech during the 2024 presidential election.
The ads feature attacks on so-called “communists” and “Marxists” — terms Trump has errantly used to describe Democrats in the past. An upcoming ad also describes Trump in disturbingly glowing terms, and is reportedly entitled, “God made Trump.”
These ads include disclaimers at the bottom that read: “Paid for by the U.S. Government.”
Critics and observers have described the ads as political, not informational.
“The timing cannot be ignored: five weeks ahead of congressional elections in which Republicans fear defeat in the House and the Senate,” CNN senior political reporter Stephen Collinson said. “The video’s hero narrative is exactly the kind of messaging that might drive out quintessential Trump voters whom the GOP needs to turn out in droves, even when Trump isn’t formally heading midterm tickets.”
The TV spots likely run afoul of federal laws forbidding the use of taxpayer funds for political advertising, others have noted. One former White House ethics lawyer, Richard Painter, pointed out that it may be an impeachable offense.
“This is very dangerous. We do not allow government-sponsored propaganda in the United States,” Painter said last month.
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