A Democratic U.S. senator from New Hampshire tried Tuesday to rouse chamber-wide condemnation for a series of taxpayer-funded advertisements promoting President Donald Trump.
Wyoming’s soon-retiring junior Sen. Cynthia Lummis, a Republican, blocked the motion, saying Democrats have let prior presidents’ aggressive public messaging slide.
Sen. Maggie Hassan approached the Senate on Tuesday, saying the federal government agencies that reportedly paid more than $2.5 million for the ads should “be working to tackle the enormous national security threats we face like stopping fentanyl, not bankrolling a vanity project for the president.”
Hassan called her resolution simple.
“It just tells the president that he is wrong, that these ads need to be pulled down and that they should not be paid for with taxpayer dollars,” said Hassan. “The American people want their tax dollars to go toward helping them and keeping them safe, not propaganda campaigns for a president.”
Lummis objected.
“The message at the heart of these PSAs is a simple one,” she said. “American values are worth defending against the failed ideologies of communism and socialism.”
If that’s the root of Hassan’s concern, said Lummis, then that reflects more on “her side of the aisle” than the actual messaging.
Lummis called the videos PSAs, or public-service announcements, whereas Hassan called them ads.
And Lummis noted that Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt dispatched public-service announcements during the respective world wars of their tenure, Bill Clinton launched an anti-drug campaign, George W. Bush bought Super Bowl airtime, Barack Obama promoted “Obamacare” and Joe Biden pushed vaccinations.
It’s unclear what Lummis was referencing with respect to Bush.
He appeared in a media slot, rather than a commercial, during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime and years later appeared in a Super Bowl political ad whose funds were crowdsourced.
“I don't recall a single Democrat rushing to the floor to object to any of them,” said Lummis of the other presidents’ messages. “The only difference I can find is the message.
"When a Democratic president tells Americans what to do, it's a public service. When this president tells Americans that liberty is worth defending, it's suddenly a problem.”
Lummis added, “A reminder that freedom beats communism and socialism is patriotic, and no member of this body should be offended by it.”
She told Cowboy State Daily in a follow-up statement that "Democrats will object to anything with President Trump's name on it, even a message defending American values against communism and socialism. If standing up for freedom makes them uncomfortable, maybe they should ask themselves why."
Hassan during her floor speech had also questioned the attack on Communism, noting that under Trump, the government has invested in the private sector.
‘Paid For By The U.S. Government’
A recent television ad plays an audio of a Trump campaign speech from 2024, while depicting the president striding toward the camera in a black-and-white video capture.
Trump’s voice vows to demolish the “deep state,” a reference to entrenched and unaccountable bureaucrats.
He also vows in the ad to expel “warmongers from our government,” drive out globalists, cast out Communists, Marxists and fascists, and throw off the “sick political class that hates our country.” He vows to “rout the fake news media and we will liberate America from these villains once and for all.”
A deep percussion line amplifies throughout the ad, along with the sound of crowds cheering.
It ends with a closeup of Trump’s face, and a banner featuring the words, “Paid For By The U.S. Government.”
An earlier tax-funded ad features multiple rapid views of Trump over a recurring vocal strain of the words “love me,” It also shows rapid slogans, military aircraft, and airs a fleeting endorsement of Trump by UFC President Dana White.
That ad also condemns Communism, which Merriam-Webster defines in part as, “a totalitarian system of government in which a single authoritarian party controls state-owned means of production.”
Another ad in the series plays Trump’s voice touting America’s accomplishments amid picturesque scenes from Mount Rushmore.
“Liberty has prevailed here because of the culture and character of the people who declared it, defended it and preserved it,” says Trump’s voice.
The ad ends with Trump performing his signature fight-fight-fight fist pump while on a stage, looking toward the audience, and his voice saying “God bless you all.”
Homeland Security
Soon after the ads sparked controversy, the Wall Street Journal ran a story citing “people familiar with the matter,” saying the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Customs and Border Protection paid for them.
CNN tallied the ads’ total cost at more than $2.5 million as of Tuesday.
Some Democratic lawmakers alleged that it appears DHS has dedicated $20 million to the ads.
The Elephant Trumpets
A handful of Republican lawmakers have also opposed the ads series, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune, of South Dakota, who told reporters the ads shouldn’t be funded with taxpayer dollars.
Frequent Trump critic Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, said on X.com, “Don’t worry, using taxpayer dollars to run ominous campaign ads of the President has been done before and is completely legal … in banana republics.”
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
