If you caught the Seattle Seahawks vs. Washington Commanders game this weekend, you might have had the misfortune of seeing one of Trump’s propaganda ads.
In one, a chorus of women earnestly sing “love me,” as a strobing array of Trump photos flashes across the screen. A male voice gushes that Trump is “the toughest, most resilient person that I’ve ever met, and nothing was gonna stop him from fighting so hard for the country he loves.” Not exactly subtle.
And at the bottom of the screen, a disclaimer: “Paid for by the U.S. Government.”
The Trump administration has reportedly spent $20 million in taxpayer money on this ad campaign. It claims the ads are “public service announcements,” not political, even though these commercials have been repurposed from actual Trump campaign ads and were hand-selected by Trump himself. The ads have already run more than 2,000 times on broadcast networks.
But this is just the beginning. CNN obtained access to a set of 10 more ads the Trump administration is planning beyond the three currently on air — including one titled “God Made Trump,” and another called “King of the Jungle.” We have every reason to expect this to ramp up as the midterm elections draw nearer.
This is all instinctively upsetting. No matter your political persuasion, it just plain feels wrong for our taxpayer money to go toward glorifying a sitting president. Maybe that’s why several prominent Republican leaders have criticized the Trump administration for this move.
There are several entangled layers of terrible to this story. Today, I want to peel these apart to understand why these ads aren’t just annoying, but deeply dangerous.
Layer one: This is a clear spending abuse
I recently engaged in the time-honored American tradition of being surprised at the amount of federal taxes deducted from my first salaried paycheck. I consoled myself by picturing the manifold ways that the money must be helping society. I definitely don’t like to hear that it was being used for Trump campaign ads.
And indeed, it’s not supposed to be used for that.
Congress has long sought to limit this sort of use of public funds for partisan purposes. The 1939 Hatch Act restricts federal executive branch employees from engaging in partisan political activities in their official capacity. And the Anti-Publicity and Propaganda Rider has, since 1951, explicitly banned the use of public funds for “publicity or propaganda purposes.”
Now, I bet you’re wondering, did Congress actually pass a law providing funding for these ads? No, they didn’t. Not even close.
Congress did pass a law providing for billions in funds for Customs and Border Protection, and gave the agency a list of eight things it could use the money for to beef up border security.
Trump campaign ads? Not one of the things. So, which of the eight permitted uses is the administration relying on?
Commemorative events, which the version of the bill originally passed by the House explains are “line-of-Duty death memorials, Department or agency anniversaries, and commendation ceremonies.”
You read that right. Trump is using a provision intended to commemorate fallen officers for ads praising himself. Ugh.
And he is also taking funds away from actual border security efforts — which he claims is a priority of his administration and a promise he campaigned on — to do it.
(As a sidebar: you can see the source of this ad funding through Protect Democracy’s OpenOMB tool, which is a great resource to track the ways in which the Trump administration has been abusing its spending authority. Try it out yourself.)
Congressional appropriators are taking note. Several senior Appropriations Committee members sent a letter to the White House chief of staff expressing their outrage, calling the ads an “egregious and utterly illegal misuse of Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars.” On Thursday, Senator Patty Murray introduced the “Penalties for Propaganda Act of 2026” that would decrease the budget of the Office of Management and Budget by $20 million for each violation of propaganda laws.
Layer two: Ads like these could be used to attack the midterms
It seems likely that, with these propaganda ads, the Trump administration is testing the waters to see how much they can get away with. If unchecked, they could ramp up their propaganda efforts and potentially use these ads as a powerful tool to spread election disinformation.
According to the White House budget office’s own records, there is around $5.5 billion left in the account that the Trump administration is using to pay for the ads. That’s more than six times what the Harris campaign spent on ads in the whole 2024 election cycle. It’s some serious campaign firepower.
It’s possible, though, that these ads could be meant for something broader than just driving support to Republicans. In the event of a win for the opposition in the 2026 midterms, the Trump administration might use these ads to question the results themselves. Trump could place ads, with the seeming endorsement “Paid for by the U.S. Government,” on news stations and broadcast shows to advance false claims about the election.
We already know that Trump is actively attempting to subvert the 2026 midterms through his Deceive, Disrupt, Deny tactics. He’s consistently cast doubt on election results. He’s done it before. He’ll do it again.
But this time, it’s like we, the taxpayers, would be buying him a giant, multimillion-dollar megaphone to shout his election conspiracies into.
Layer three: This echoes exactly how other autocrats have channeled public resources into propaganda
Finally, to state the obvious: Self-promotional ads glorifying the president are a page ripped directly from the global authoritarian playbook. One of the fundamental tactics of autocrats is “aggrandizing executive power,” which often involves building a cult of personality. Propaganda efforts can be used to shore up support, discourage dissent, and justify the expansion of executive strength.
A clear example is Hungary under former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Not only did Orbán structurally expand his executive power through radically rewriting the Hungarian constitution to remove checks and balances, he accompanied this power grab with a concerted propaganda effort. He unleashed regulatory fury against media critics. He directed government advertising money to loyal outlets. And, like Trump, Orbán’s political party used taxpayer money to place pro-regime ads on the air, skirting around a constitutional prohibition against paid political advertising by claiming its ads were public service announcements.
Sound familiar?
In fact, a Hungarian civic watchdog group found that Orbán’s Fidesz-led government spent hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on propaganda ads which praised Orbán and lashed out at political enemies. An international election observer group found that these ads had a meaningful impact on Hungarian elections, systematically disadvantaging the opposition.
Autocratic leaders have employed similar propaganda ad tactics in Turkey, El Salvador, Serbia, and elsewhere.
If we’re not vigilant, this could be where we’re heading. And this comparison isn’t paranoia — Trump and his allies have explicitly and enthusiastically embraced Orbán as a role model.
That said, the playbook may not be as effective as Trump and his administration hope. Orbán’s propaganda worked only until, eventually, it didn’t. Earlier this year, he and his Fidesz party were swept out of power in a landslide. Among other things, voters were furious at the perception that Orbán was acting corruptly and irresponsibly with government resources.
Trump’s ads are likely illegal and definitely immoral. But the best way to stop this from happening — now or in the future — is if the American people refuse to believe the propaganda, call out what’s happening, and deliver swift political and electoral punishments for the abuse.
Even if our money as taxpayers is buying these ads, it doesn’t mean that we as citizens have to.
Three updates to the Authoritarian Action Watch this week.
First, the president is withholding almost $1 billion in congressionally approved funding, an illegal maneuver known as a pocket rescission (read more about those here). Because of that move, Aggrandizing Executive Power is RAPIDLY ESCALATING.
Second, as covered above, Trump’s ads are both an aggrandizement of his power and an attempt to spread false information. For that reason, Spreading Disinformation is ESCALATING.
And finally, the Supreme Court’s ruling on the use of the SAVE database is an unwelcome development, but not one that should keep you from feeling confident that your vote is safe and secure. Because of the ruling, Corrupting Elections is ESCALATING.
Overall: Authoritarian actions are RAPIDLY ESCALATING.
See all the developments: Authoritarian Action Watch.
How you can protect democracy
Watch this great video from my colleague Anna Dorman on three ways you can secure your vote, and give it a share:
Welcome and congratulations, Tova!
Glad you're here, Tova. Good piece.