A string of recent TV ads praising Donald Trump carry an unusual disclaimer: “Paid for by the U.S. government.” In one, Trump declares “America will never be a communist country” as the song “Love Me” plays. Another nearly copies a 2024 campaign video, with Trump calling supporters to his “final battle” against “the fake news media.” The White House insists the spots are “public service announcements.”
But as NBC News confirmed, the money came from border security funds:
The Trump administration paid for TV ads showing him in a favorable light using money intended for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, an official and a top Republican senator confirmed to NBC News. ... The unusual ads — one of which is nearly identical to a 2024 Trump campaign ad — include disclaimers stating they were paid for by the U.S. government. The administration’s apparent use of taxpayer money to produce ads that resemble campaign advertisements has drawn bipartisan criticism. “It’s a great message. I like the message,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters Monday of the most recent ad, “but it shouldn’t be paid for with taxpayer dollars.” …
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, confirmed the official’s account of the source of the funds, saying that “it was taken out of funding that was supposed to be for Customs and Border Protection” in Trump’s so-called big, beautiful bill, which Republicans passed along party lines in 2025. Collins, who faces a difficult re-election bid this fall, said the Appropriations Committee she chairs had no role in the money that the White House used. In fact, she said appropriations bills to fund the government typically have restrictions against using one account for another purpose. “That’s why the administration went around the appropriations process and used an account that was part of the reconciliation bill,” Collins said in the Capitol.
The story has grown since. The New York Times reported that Trump personally instructed budget director Russ Vought to find the money inside the government, which produced a $20 million contract funded through CBP. CNN has identified at least 13 such ads, made in-house by the White House video team. Sen. Thom Tillis summed it up: “It feels like Viktor Orbán talking to the Hungarian people.”
Trump is effectively forcing taxpayers to fund his party’s midterm campaign.
The Executive Watch is a project of the Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism, and its flagship publication The UnPopulist, to track in an ongoing way the abuses of the power of the American presidency. It sorts these abuses into five categories: Personal Grift, Political Corruption, Presidential Retribution, Power Consolidation, and Policy Illegality. Click the category of interest to get an overview of all the abuses under it.
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