# Patriotic Ads In late September 2026, five weeks before the midterms, the federal government began running TV ads featuring [[Donald Trump]], paid for with money appropriated to the [[Department of Homeland Security]]. Each ended "Paid for by the U.S. Government." After criticism from both parties, Trump announced on **October 5, 2026** that he would keep running "the Patriotic Ads" but pay for them through his super PAC, [[MAGA Inc]]. The White House then said he would not repay the taxpayer money already spent. > [!info] The ads, as described by the AP > - The first showed Trump talking about defeating communism, with onscreen text promoting the "largest tax cuts in history," "reigniting American manufacturing," and a call to "defend law and order and police." > - The second used Mount Rushmore footage with clips from Trump's Fourth of July weekend speech for the country's 250th anniversary ([[America 250]]). > - The third was nearly identical to a 2024 Trump campaign ad: Trump walking down a hallway while his voice warns of a "final battle" against "globalists" and "warmongers." ## The money | Figure | Source | |---|---| | $20 million from the DHS budget allocated to the campaign | ABC News | | "$20 million-plus" spent | Colorado Politics | | At least $1.4 million on TV by end of September (AdImpact) | AP | | At least $2.5 million on TV (AdImpact) | ABC News, a week later | The AdImpact figures count only TV airtime and may be low if networks didn't classify the ads as political. The gap between "$20 million allocated" and "$20 million-plus spent" is unresolved in the reporting. ## What was said - **Trump, October 5 (Truth Social):** "I have decided to do the Patriotic Ads, among others, and pay for them myself, and with money I raised for MAGA, Inc." Asked later about repaying the government: "We'll decide." And: "Now, if somebody said that that's wrong, I'll gladly pay the money. But these are ads for the country." - **White House, October 6:** "The President's Truth was not referring to reimbursement." - **[[JD Vance]]:** the ads were paid for with money previously appropriated to DHS; "They're not partisan"; and "It's part of actually, I think, living in a constitutional republic." He cited the Obama administration's Affordable Care Act ads as precedent. ## The legal problem Legal experts told the AP the ads may violate the appropriations ban on using federal funds for "publicity or propaganda" and the law limiting partisan political activity by federal employees (the [[Hatch Act]]). One of the three ads was nearly a copy of a campaign ad. Moving future ads to MAGA Inc. ends the taxpayer spending going forward but doesn't address what was already spent, and the White House didn't explain how anyone would verify which money paid for which ads. ## Why it matters The sequence is a pattern the vault tracks: do it with public money, wait for the backlash, shift the cost to a private vehicle going forward, and keep what was already spent. The ads did their work in the weeks before an election either way. MAGA Inc. had more than $400 million on hand, so paying was never the hard part. ## See also - [[MAGA Inc]] · [[Donald Trump]] · [[JD Vance]] - [[Department of Homeland Security]] · [[Hatch Act]] - [[America 250]]