President Donald Trump’s super PAC has made its ad debut for the 2026 election cycle with a $1 million national buy starting on Thursday that is all about Trump.
The 30-second ad, from Make America Great Again Inc.’s nonprofit organization, Securing American Greatness, is narrated by UFC CEO Dana White and Trump himself, using clips from White’s primetime address to the 2024 Republican National Convention and Trump’s State of the Union speech to Congress earlier this year.
“He’s the toughest, most resilient person that I’ve ever met, and nothing’s going to stop him from fighting so hard for the country he loves,” says White.
Trump adds, “The world needs courage, vision, and inspiration, and it’s still turning to America. There is no challenge Americans cannot overcome, no frontier too vast for us to conquer, and our top priority will be to create a nation that is proud, prosperous, and free.”
The ad buy comes amid complaints from Republicans about MAGA Inc.’s lack of spending leading up to November’s midterm elections, despite reports that it had $400 million in cash on hand at the end of July.
“There’s a lot of frustration in the Republican political circles,” one GOP strategist told the Washington Examiner this week. “Everyone is annoyed.”
Another Republican strategist agreed, “I don’t think there’s any secret that people are frustrated.”
At the same time, a third Republican strategist defended MAGA Inc.’s strategy, contending the electoral map is changing quickly and that most spending happens after Labor Day.
“Yeah, there are some people grumbling — and it’s mostly the consultants who think their race is already slipping away,” one strategist told the Washington Examiner. “When you look at the 2018 campaign, there were campaigns who had super PAC reservations laid in mid-September through Election Day, and it made them feel good that ‘the cavalry’ was on its way. But guess what? Because of the environment, those reservations were canceled and moved to that second and third tier of races.”
MAGA Inc. did spend $828,000 to support Sen. Darline Graham Nordone (R-SC) in her Republican special primary election runoff to replace her brother, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, over Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) last month in South Carolina.
Vice President JD Vance was similarly deployed to Sterling Heights, Michigan, this week for his first public MAGA Inc. campaign rally, having previously attended closed-door events, including fundraisers.
In addition, Trump is hosting battleground Republican candidates at the White House on Wednesday for a dinner in the Rose Garden.
Wednesday’s ad buy also comes after reporting last month that Trump directed his political aides, separate from their White House counterparts, to cut ads featuring him regardless of his low approval ratings.
Trump’s direction was in response to his advisers telling him Democrats intend to nationalize November’s elections, making the contests a referendum on him and his record.
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“Go look at the clips,” the president told his team, according to the Atlantic. “I cite accomplishments all the time.”
Trump’s average approval rating is net negative 17 percentage points, while Democrats have an average 6-percentage-point edge over Republicans in generic congressional ballot polling, according to RealClearPolitics.