U.S. Spent Nearly $10 Million on Pro-Trump Ads After Trump Said His Super PAC Would Take Over Funding
An NPR analysis of AdImpact data finds about $22 million in taxpayer money went to air the ads since late September, with nearly $10 million spent after Trump's October 5 pledge. The spots also kept airing for hours after a federal judge ordered them taken down.
Television ads promoting President Donald Trump and his policies continued to be paid for with U.S. taxpayer dollars well after Trump announced that his MAGA Inc. super PAC would take over funding them — and kept airing for hours after a federal judge ordered them taken down, according to NPR reporting published Monday.
An NPR analysis of data from AdImpact found that nearly $22 million in taxpayer dollars has been spent to air the ads since the campaign began in late September. Nearly $10 million of that total was spent after Oct. 5, when Trump posted on Truth Social that he would fund the ads himself and through his super PAC. “I have decided to do the Patriotic Ads, among others, and pay for them myself, and with money I raised for MAGA, Inc.,” Trump wrote.
The announcement drew praise from lawmakers in both parties — but the praise was premature, according to the analysis. Despite the apparent policy change, the government-funded ads did not stop airing after Trump’s post.
Ads kept airing after the judge’s order
The spots also continued to be broadcast for several hours after a federal judge issued a temporary ruling Sunday night in a lawsuit filed by Common Cause and others, ordering that the government “shall cancel or cause to be cancelled any slot, placement, reservation, or arrangement for the airing or dissemination of the challenged advertisements, including those placements for the evening of October 11, 2026.” Pro-Trump spots aired hundreds of additional times Sunday night into the early hours of Monday morning.
“The last PSAs paid for by the government aired yesterday evening,” a White House official not authorized to speak publicly told NPR on Monday afternoon, adding that the government “did not receive notice from the court in time to cancel the ad buys. The PSAs will be paid for by outside groups moving forward.”
The White House has repeatedly described the ads as public service announcements about patriotism, while the lawsuit argued they were funded without congressional approval and violated restrictions on publicity and propaganda produced with taxpayer dollars. According to the reporting, the five spots include a montage of photos of the president set to a chorus singing “love me,” an exact duplicate of an ad made by the Trump campaign during the 2024 election cycle, and two promoting military operations in Venezuela and Iran. All of them end with the words “Paid for by the U.S. Government.”
Polls show the ads are unpopular across party lines
The White House has argued the ads cannot be campaign-related because the president is not on the ballot this year, even as Trump has repeatedly urged voters to vote as if he were. A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 86% of Americans said it is inappropriate to use taxpayer funds to pay for election-related television ads featuring the president or members of his cabinet. Even 80% of Republicans said the ads were inappropriate, according to the poll.
Reporting based on coverage by WAMC/NPR.
