The US government is spending millions of taxpayer dollars to get a blatantly partisan message in front of voters as the midterm elections loom.
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elections → spend → voters
They feature Donald Trump as a hero.
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They → feature → hero
They try to scare people into thinking that the US could become a communist country.
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US → try → people
They take shots at the news media and at vaguely described political enemies.
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They → take → enemies
Two Democratic senators, Patty Murray and Chris Murphy, on Tuesday aptly called them “a shockingly corrupt use of taxpayer dollars”.
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senators → call → dollars
Their funding, through the Department of Homeland Security, may be illegal, according to experts, and is certainly unethical.
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funding → accord → experts
They lack any hint of the public service message that the White House claims.
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House → lack → that
In fact, they closely fit the defining characteristics of propaganda, as described by the government accounting office, including “self-aggrandizement” or “puffery”.
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they → fit → aggrandizement
But the agencies or institutions that could do something about them, including the supposedly independent FCC, are eager to do the president’s bidding.
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that → do → bidding
Carr has shrugged off questions about the ads.
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Carr → shrug → ads
They don’t raise any red flags for him; they are quite normal, and nothing that his agency intends to investigate.
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agency → raise → that
And with both houses of Congress held by Republican majorities, this startling use of taxpayer money will probably go unpunished – at least for now.
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use → hold → money
“The most immediate check on this kind of behavior is supposed to be and needs to be Congress,” said Donald Sherman, who heads Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (Crew) in Washington.
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who → suppose → Washington
However, as he told CNN, Congress “has not asserted itself as the first branch of government with the power of the purse to hold the president accountable”.
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president → tell → purse
Some Republican members of Congress have questioned the ads, but there’s no groundswell of bipartisan outrage so far.
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members → question → outrage
The Trump administration is responding to the criticism with its usual defiance, even planning to double down in the next few weeks.
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administration → respond → weeks
“This is just the beginning,” one administration official told Axios.
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official → tell → Axios
The argument that these are not political ads is contradicted by an undeniable reality: one of them is a straight-up rerun of a Trump campaign commercial from before the 2024 presidential election.
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one → contradict → election
It differs, though, with the addition of an Orwellian coda, “paid for by the US government”.
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It → differ → government
With its weirdly menacing tone, it shows black-and-white images of Trump walking as he promises to “throw off the sick political class that hates our country” and pledges to “rout out the fake news media”.
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that → show → media
Another ad shows images of Trump at public events with a voiceover insisting that “America will never be a communist country,” while the song Love Me plays in the background.
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song → show → background
(The R&B artist JMSN has said he didn’t authorize this use of his song and has made
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he → say → song
Another ad, reported Robert Tait of the Guardian, shows images of Mount Rushmore and has Trump bragging: “The United States of America is the most successful, most accomplished, most exceptional nation ever to exist in human history.”
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States → report → history
The White House described that “love me” ad as “educational and unapologetically patriotic”.
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House → describe → ad
And, in a statement, it termed the various ads as “public service announcements”.
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it → term → announcements
They are playing to a big-tent crowd that Trump apparently thinks (or hopes) is persuadable.
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Trump → play → crowd
They’ve aired everywhere from pro-football games to Saturday Night Live.
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They → air → Live
The Wall Street Journal reported that the ads, by last weekend, had aired more than 90 times across various networks – and political leanings – including Fox, Newsmax, MS Now and CBS.
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ads → report → Fox
As corrupt as they appear to be, the ads do make a twisted kind of Trumpian sense.
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ads → appear → sense
They are probably illegal and have garnered plenty of legitimate criticism.
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They → garner → criticism
But what’s missing is accountability with actual teeth.
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missing → miss → teeth
As usual, he’s getting away with it.
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he → get → it
But the midterm elections could change that.
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elections → change → that
With Trump’s approval ratings low and voters unhappy with misguided Iran war and soaring costs, Democrats could seize a majority in one or both houses of Congress.
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Democrats → soar → Congress
That might mean some restraints on Trump’s never-ending cascade of malfeasance.
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That → mean → malfeasance
It’s no wonder he’s pulling out all the stops to make that nightmare go away.
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nightmare → ’ → stops
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Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture
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Sullivan → write → media
The Aporia
