The White House is airing ads built from Trump's old campaign footage, and taxpayers are footing the bill.
Public Citizen filed a complaint with the FCC and FTC today, saying broadcasters should be ordered to pull the spots. The ad in question, called "The Final Battle," shows black-and-white footage of Trump marching down a corridor while the audio declares: "This is the final battle. With you at my side, we will demolish the deep state. We will expel the warmongers from our government." Trump goes on to say the administration will "cast out the communists, Marxists, and fascists" and "rout the fake news media." A caption at the bottom reads "Paid for by the US government." Public Citizen says the spot is a near-identical copy of a 2024 Trump campaign ad, with the funding source as the only real change.
That distinction is the whole complaint. Federal law bars using taxpayer money for propaganda and restricts political activity by government employees, and Public Citizen argues this ad crosses both lines. The White House calls it a public service announcement, but PSAs do not typically warn of "villains" or promise to "liberate America" from them.
Recycling campaign-trail footage and calling it a PSA is a neat trick, if regulators let it stand.