New Trump-focused "Love Me" ad campaign paid for by taxpayers hits airwaves

Read the original at CBS News ↗
CBS News · collected 2026-09-24 · by Ed O'Keefe, Aaron Navarro

Quick Summary

A new ad campaign promoting President Trump's achievements and policies is airing on national television networks, funded by U.S. taxpayers. The ads feature clips from the president’s second term set to music and include messages about defeating communism and supporting domestic manufacturing. One 30-second commercial includes a statement from Dana White praising Trump's resilience, while another highlights the capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Despite claims that these are public service announcements by the White House, they lack approval from JMSN, the artist whose song is used in the ad.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-25, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

In early November 2018, President Donald Trump's administration began airing a series of ads on national cable networks like Fox News and CBS. The ads, labeled "Paid for by the U.S. Government," highlighted Trump's achievements such as tax cuts and law enforcement support while denouncing communism, socialism, and Marxism. They featured images from Trump’s presidency set to music, including JMSN’s song “Love Me.” These ads were criticized by Democrats like Rep. Jamie Raskin for potentially violating federal rules against using taxpayer funds for political campaigning. The total cost of the campaign had escalated to $430,000 as of November 9th, according to AdImpact. Despite this controversy, the White House defended these ads as "public service announcements" aimed at promoting patriotism and national defense.

Written for “Taxpayer Funded Pro-Trump Ads” on 2026-10-05, grounded in this article and the 42 other(s) covering the same event.

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
24
claim-shaped sentences
Uncertain
8%
2 of 24 hedged
Leaning
withheld
no quote in the article backed the model's score
Correction & hedging signals
65.5
corrections and hedging in what we collected; not a measure of accuracy
Outlets on this story
43
Politics
Narrative spread
1
articles carrying this framing
Analyzed 2026-09-25 · how these are computed

Story

📰 Taxpayer Funded Pro-Trump Ads
Politics · 43 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 8% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Washington Examiner
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 15% hedged 3 of 20 📰 publisher trust 72
“Both articles describe the identical new ad campaign promoting President Trump, which is funded by taxpayer money and has sparked criticism from Democrats.”
CBS News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 4 📰 publisher trust 66
“Both articles describe the identical ad campaign featuring President Trump, set to JMSN's song 'Love Me', airing on national networks and funded by taxpayers.”
Zeteo
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 12
“Both articles describe the same new Trump-focused 'Love Me' ad campaign paid for by taxpayer money, airing on national networks.”
Washington Examiner
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 5% hedged 1 of 21 📰 publisher trust 72
“Article A describes the release of a new ad campaign featuring President Trump, while Article B discusses an analysis by Bob Cusack on CNN about the effectiveness and timing of such ads. The articles cover related topics but describe different specific events.”
CBS News · 0.86 cosine similarity
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 3 📰 publisher trust 66
“Both articles describe the same taxpayer-funded ad campaign promoting President Trump that began airing on national networks, including CBS.”
ABC News (US)
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 12% hedged 3 of 24 📰 publisher trust 59
“Both articles describe a new campaign-style ad glorifying President Trump airing on Fox News and other networks, paid for by taxpayer dollars.”
CBS News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 4 📰 publisher trust 66
“Both articles describe a pro-Trump ad campaign paid for by U.S. taxpayers that aired on September 24th.”
The Independent
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 11% hedged 2 of 19 📰 publisher trust 59
“Both articles describe the airing of a new ad campaign glorifying President Trump, paid for by taxpayers, which began airing on different networks at around the same time.”
Toronto Star
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 67% hedged 2 of 3 📰 publisher trust 63
“Both articles describe the same government-funded pro-Trump advertisement campaign that is airing nationally and paid for by taxpayers.”
Mother Jones
⚖️ Leans strongly left 🔴 13% hedged 2 of 15 📰 publisher trust 95
“Both articles describe the identical taxpayer-funded ad campaign for President Trump that started airing on Wednesday and includes JMSN's song 'Love Me'.”

Publisher

CBS News · 1960 article(s) · 6 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 6 correction(s)
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Who wrote this

Aaron Navarro
3 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 The first ad, which hit the airwaves Wednesday and aired on Fox News Channel, opens with Mr. Trump vowing, "We will defeat communism, socialism and Marxism in America."
🔮 A spokesperson for the Kennedy Center said Wednesday that "nothing is being demolished" at the performing arts center, although President Trump said later that it would be "ripped down," and photos showed him looking at a document that said "Kennedy Center Demolished." In court documents filed Wednesday by Rep. Joyce Beatty, an ex officio board member who sued last year to halt Mr. Trump's changes to the Kennedy Center, a witness said he saw a "forklift run into and hit the pillars" of the building.
🔮 that 200,000 federal employees would opt into the program, though the GAOThe report states that paid administrative leave peaked in July 2025, when 2.5 million of the 3 million leave workdays reported that month were due to the DRP.
Also by Aaron Navarro
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
Ed O'Keefe
1 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 The first ad, which hit the airwaves Wednesday and aired on Fox News Channel, opens with Mr. Trump vowing, "We will defeat communism, socialism and Marxism in America."
The only article under this byline in the corpus.

Topics

America Americans CBS JMSN White House

Subjects

Trump PERSON · 4× Americans NORP · 3× White House ORG · 3× America GPE · 2× CBS ORG · 2× Democratic NORP · 2× JMSN PERSON · 2× The White House ORG · 2× American NORP · 1× Fox News Channel ORG · 1×

Narrative

The White House, in response to CBS News' inquiries about the pro-Trump ad, denied it was a political ad and called it a "public service announcement." "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," a White House spokesperson said.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-25
🔮 The first ad, which hit the airwaves Wednesday and aired on Fox News Channel, opens with Mr. Trump vowing, "We will defeat communism, socialism and Marxism in America."

Claims (24 extracted, 2 hedged)

A new ad campaign glorifying President Trump is on the air on national cable and national networks including CBS beginning Thursday, and it's being paid for by American taxpayers. asserted
it → glorify → taxpayers
The first ad, which hit the airwaves Wednesday and aired on Fox News Channel, opens with Mr. Trump vowing, "We will defeat communism, socialism and Marxism in America." asserted
We → hit → America
Set over a soundtrack of JMSN's song "Love Me," flash-cut random shots from the president's second administration appear with text on screen. asserted
shots → Set → screen
The photos show the president at rallies, pardoning turkeys, at the White House with Christmas decorations, standing with the FIFA trophy, surrounded by flags, flanked by military leaders, outside the Taj Mahal, and more. asserted
photos → show → Mahal
The ad repeatedly flashes "America will never be a communist country" on screen and also touts his administration's tax cuts and other broad expressions of support for domestic manufacturing and law enforcement in text on screen. asserted
America → flash → screen
It ends with the voice of Dana White, CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, declaring, "He's the toughest, most resilient (man) I've ever met and nothing was going to stop him from fighting so hard for the country he loves." asserted
he → end → country
In a post on X, JMSN said he did not grant a license for the use of "Love Me." asserted
he → say → Me
"To anybody who has followed my career and knows what I stand for and built my career on, it should go without saying that I would never authorize my music to be used for ANY political agenda or campaign," he said, and he indicated that no one asked him for permission to use it. asserted
one → follow → it
The ad, which appeared Wednesday night during "Primetime with Jesse Watters" and on Thursday afternoon, contains an on-screen disclosure that it was "Paid for by the U.S. Government." asserted
it → appear → Government
A second ad that recounts the U.S. capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife and features Mr. Trump and his top Cabinet officials aired on CBS stations and other networks Thursday evening. asserted
that → recount → stations
CBS News has learned that there are multiple versions of the ads, with some 30 seconds long and others 60 seconds. asserted
others → learn → ads
The U.S. government produced the content and paid for the air time through an ad agency. asserted
government → produce → agency
The White House, in response to CBS News' inquiries about the pro-Trump ad, denied it was a political ad and called it a "public service announcement." "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," a White House spokesperson said. asserted
spokesperson → deny → borders
A White House official said the PSAs "are clearly not political," and noted, "The President is not on the ballot and the ads don't have a call to action." Previous presidents have run PSAs, too. asserted
presidents → say → PSAs
During the Biden administration, all of the living presidents except Mr. Trump appeared in a PSA to encourage Americans to obtain a COVID vaccination. asserted
all → live → vaccination
Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire wrote to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles to demand information about the cost of running the ad and said it "raises deep concerns about the Trump Administration's use of taxpayer dollars. asserted
it → write → dollars
" "The advertisement does not have a clear official government purpose and appears to run afoul of federal prohibitions against the use of appropriated funds as part of 'a general propaganda effort designed to aid a political party or candidates,'" Hassan wrote. asserted
Hassan → have → party
She also asked the White House for information about the contractors involved, the source of the funding and whether funding was diverted from federal agencies in order to run the ad. asserted
funding → ask → ad
In another letter to Wiles, the top Democratic appropriators in the House and Senate demanded that the ad be immediately pulled from air, saying it was a violation of federal law. "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," Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland wrote. uncertain
Murray → demand → Maryland
Campaign finance experts said the commercial likely does not violate election law, even as it generated scrutiny on social media for appearing to be a campaign ad. asserted
it → say → media
"It doesn't appear to be supporting or endorsing a candidate for public office," said Richard Briffault, a law professor at Columbia University. asserted
Briffault → appear → University
Briffault, however, agreed with Hassan that there are questions about whether it could violate the propaganda law. uncertain
it → agree → law
Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada has a bill to ban political ads featuring cabinet members that are paid for with tax dollars. asserted
that → have → dollars
She is trying to introduce an amendment to it Thursday to address at least the look and content of this new Trump spot. asserted
She → try → spot
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