Trump Says MAGA Inc. Will Pay for Self-Promoting TV Ads After Taxpayer-Funding Backlash

WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 (TodayViralUSA) — President Donald Trump said on Monday that he will stop using taxpayer money to pay for a series of television advertisements that promote him and his record, and that his MAGA Inc. super political action committee will cover the cost instead, after more than a week of criticism from lawmakers in both parties.

In a post on his social media platform, Trump defended the spots as “positive promotion for our Great U.S.A.” and called the practice “a rather standard thing to do,” blaming the backlash on the “Radical Left.” He said he had nevertheless decided to pay for the “Patriotic Ads” himself and with money raised for MAGA Inc.

The White House said on Monday night that the super PAC would fund such ads going forward, the Associated Press reported. It did not answer questions about how it would demonstrate that political money, rather than public funds, was being used, and Trump offered no details on whether taxpayers would be reimbursed for ads that have already aired.

Spending and content

The ads have cost at least $1.4 million through the end of September, according to media-tracking firm AdImpact, as cited by the AP, which noted the true figure could be higher depending on how networks classified the spots. More than a dozen versions have been produced, Politico reported.

The first featured clips of Trump talking about defeating communism alongside on-screen text touting the “largest tax cuts in history” and a revival of American manufacturing. A second used footage of Mount Rushmore and excerpts from Trump’s Fourth of July weekend speech there marking the nation’s 250th anniversary. A third closely resembled an ad from his 2024 re-election campaign, in which his voice warns of a “final battle” against “globalists” and “warmongers,” the AP said.

MAGA Inc. is Trump’s main political war chest and had more than $400 million on hand at the end of July. The president has begun drawing on it to support Republican candidates ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

Bipartisan objections

Legal experts have said the ads could run afoul of federal law, including a statutory ban on using congressionally appropriated funds for “publicity or propaganda” and rules limiting partisan political activity by government employees.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, told reporters on Monday that while he liked the message, the ads should not be paid for with taxpayer dollars, the BBC reported. Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana said on CBS News on Sunday that no public official should spend public money on promotional ads for themselves.

Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire had introduced a measure expressing the sense of the Senate that the ads, which carried the line “paid for by the U.S. Government,” should not be publicly funded. A Republican senator blocked it.

The White House had previously defended the ads as educational public service announcements rather than propaganda, pointing to past government campaigns such as the Obama administration’s promotion of its health care law and the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine messaging. Legal ethics specialist Margaret Dylus-Yukins told the BBC it was difficult to see what legitimate government purpose was served by spending taxpayer money on ads whose apparent aim was to promote the president.

The reversal comes four weeks before midterm elections in which Democrats are seeking control of one or both chambers of Congress, as polls show the president’s approval rating declining.