(Dobbs) The White House Might As Well Say The Sun Sets In The East“We are witnessing a rare, very possibly once-in-a-lifetime political liar.”
This is what passes these days as a public service announcement. There’s our president, the man who said during the 2024 campaign, “It is my desire to be the president of all the people,” vilifying at least half the almost 350 million people he represents. In a half-minute ad that aired over the weekend on Fox News Sunday and on several televised college and professional football games, our “president of all the people” said, “This is the final battle.” Whether looking at the midterms only five weeks away or at the next presidential race in 2028, it was denunciation of his detractors at a level that few can equal. “We will demolish the deep state, we will expel the war-mongers from our government, we will drive out the globalists, we will cast out the communists, Marxists, and fascists,” we hear him say as he walks toward the camera— sporting the same grim face we saw when he was booked three years ago in Atlanta. “We will throw off the sick political class that hates our country. We will rout the fake news media, and we will liberate America from these villains once and for all.” Change out a few nouns and it could be Joseph Stalin. Or Kim Jong Un. Or Adolf Hitler. But no. To this nation’s shame, it’s Donald J. Trump. And we paid for this. You see that in the lettering that appears in the final seconds of the ad: “Paid for by the U.S. Government.” Even Senator John Thune, the Republican leader of the senate, said at the Capitol yesterday, “I like the message, but it shouldn’t be paid for with taxpayer dollars.” The White House disagrees, insisting that’s perfectly okay, because it’s not a campaign ad, it’s an “unapologetically American” PSA, a Public Service Announcement. It argues in its own post online, “President Trump is not on the ballot and there is no call to action. Instead, the announcements are a reminder for Americans to love their country and know why it’s worth defending — at home, at the border, and abroad.” It asserts about language that goes so clearly beyond just partisan, “That’s not partisanship — that’s a government that still believes in the country it serves.” The White House might as well say the sun sets in the east. It also might as well say that it’s too busy “liberating America from these villains” to bother with bringing prices down or ending the war. Its post puts this Trump ad in the same category as ads during the presidency of George H.W. Bush which promoted a Medicare drug plan and anti-terrorism and anti-drug campaigns. It puts it on a par with ads during the Obama administration that aimed to sell people on Obamacare. It even compares it to the use of radio and films to promote the war effort when Franklin D. Roosevelt was president. None of them talked about “throwing off the sick political class that hates our country.” Making matters even nastier, this ad— actually the third in a recent series— smacks of a violation of the Hatch Act, which has been law since 1939 and with the exception of the president, prohibits government employees from using their offices to make political statements. But Trump undoubtedly played a role in the creation and approval of the ads. As Richard Painter, the White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush told The New York Times, these ads could be grounds for impeachment: “We do not allow government-sponsored propaganda in the United States.” The advocacy group Public Citizen has complained to the non-partisan Government Accountability Office: “ “The TV ad boosting the image and character of Donald Trump as well as reiterating Trump’s campaign rhetoric, paid for by taxpayer dollars, and produced and distributed by Trump’s White House staff, appears to be a clear violation of the laws prohibiting the use of taxpayer dollars for propaganda purpose as well as a violation of the Hatch Act.” What’s more, according to The Washington Post, federal appropriations laws prohibit government agencies from using taxpayer money for unauthorized “publicity or propaganda.” Four congressional leaders poured it on in a letter to Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles: “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 illegal misuse of Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars.” Just for good measure, there’s a song in the background of one of the ads called “Love Me,” by a rhythm-and-blues singer and songwriter known as JMSN. He released a statement saying he “did not authorize the use” of his song. He’s looking for a lawyer. That White House post defending the ad begins by saying, “The attacks on President Donald J. Trump’s public service announcements are highly dishonest.” That’s rich, coming from a president and his staff who don’t know the difference between dishonest and honest. Leave a comment CNN’s renowned fact-checker Daniel Dale wrote an essay over the weekend titled, “I started fact-checking Trump 10 years ago. Here are 15 things I’ve learned.” His conclusion? “It’s abundantly clear that there is no public official in Washington who lies like Trump – not as constantly, not as obviously, not about as many topics. I’ve heard people dismiss Trump’s mendacity with a shrugging ‘they all lie,’ but we are witnessing a rare, very possibly once-in-a-lifetime political liar.” That is what a public service announcement ought to say. © 2026 Greg Dobbs |