The Trump administration has spent over $315,000 in taxpayer dollars to put its ads in front of Americans during one of the country’s favorite pastimes — football.
President Donald Trump’s White House has released three U.S. government-funded political advertisements, spending close to $1.5 million on them since last week, according to AdImpact. The White House did not provide spending totals when asked by the Washington Examiner.
A notable portion of that spending went toward ads that aired during professional and college football games, including a $65,366 ad buy for Fox during college football last Thursday night, according to data compiled by AdImpact.
The advertisements, titled “The Country He Loves,” “Celebrating The Enduring Spirit,” and “Final Battle,” feature voiceovers from Trump and text saying the U.S. government paid for them.
The “Final Battle” advert features Trump walking down a hallway and telling viewers that “This is the final battle. With you at my side, we will demolish the deep state, we will expel the warmongers from our government… we will liberate America from these villains once and for all.”
In total, from Sept. 25 to Sept. 27, the administration has spent $315,967 on airtime during time slots when the NFL or its college alternative is airing, according to ad buys compiled by AdImpact.
Democrats have railed against the ads, with top Democratic appropriators writing a letter to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles demanding the administration take down the taxpayer-funded advertisements.
“This is the sort of government propaganda one might expect in North Korea, not the United States of America, and it is an egregious and utterly illegal misuse of Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars,” Sens. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Jack Reed and Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Steny Hoyer (D-MD) wrote in the letter.
The White House has defended the adverts by claiming that they are “clearly not political,” that Trump is not on the ballot, and that the ads do not feature a call to action.
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A White House spokesperson referred to the advertisements as “public service announcements” and said that the ads are “educational and unapologetically patriotic.”
“These public service announcements are about reminding Americans to love their country and understand what makes it worth defending, at home, at our borders, and abroad,” the spokesperson said.