Trump's “Final Battle”... Controversy Over Government-Funded TV Ads Ahead of Midterm Elections

[Financial News] The White House has come under fire after releasing advertisements promoting U.S. President Donald Trump and targeting the opposition Democratic Party with government funding, just five weeks before the November midterm elections.
According to CNN and other outlets on Sept. 27 (local time), the advertisements aired during at least two National Football League (NFL) game broadcasts carried that day by Fox, a pro-Trump broadcaster.
The roughly 30-second advertisement opens with footage of President Trump walking inside a building, accompanied by his voice saying, “This is the final battle we are fighting together.”
President Trump then says, “We will bring down the ‘deep state,’ the shadowy power brokers within the U.S. federal government, and remove the warmongers from within the government,” adding, “We will drive out the globalists and expel the communists, Marxists and fascists.”
After candidates aligned with the Democratic Socialists, the hard-left wing of the Democratic Party, made gains in this year's Democratic primary elections, President Trump has labeled them “communists” and sought to rally his base by stressing the need to eliminate them.
The advertisement is nearly identical to an election video President Trump posted on the social media platform Truth Social in January 2024. That video ended with his presidential campaign logo and a number for sending text messages, while the new advertisement includes a notice stating that the U.S. government paid for it.
The advertisement is the third television ad recently produced and aired by the Trump administration.
One advertisement that began airing on Sept. 23 features rapidly edited footage and photos of President Trump, along with his voice saying, “Together, we will defeat communism, socialism and Marxism.”
In a second advertisement, which runs for about one minute, remarks from a speech Trump gave during a visit to Mount Rushmore in South Dakota on July 3, the eve of Independence Day marking the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, are played over the footage.
The White House has argued that the advertisements are public service announcements rather than election ads.
CNN reported that a White House spokesperson said in a statement, “The advertisement is educational and unapologetically patriotic. We should be proud of our country.”
However, Common Cause, a government watchdog group, said the advertisement may have violated rules prohibiting the use of taxpayer money for “political propaganda.”
Carol Evans, vice president for policy at Common Cause, told CNN, “Even if you are not a legal scholar, you would question why the president should use taxpayer money to promote his own image with an election just around the corner.”

[email protected] Lee Seok-woo, international affairs specialist Reporter