‘Love Me’: White House airs government-funded ad praising Trump

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With the midterm elections approaching, the White House is airing a new TV ad promoting President Donald Trump and his policies that says it is “Paid for by the U.S. Government.”

The unusual 30-second commercial shows rapidly edited pictures and video of Trump over audio of him denouncing communism and socialism, with text on the screen that touts his administration’s accomplishments, such as “reigniting American manufacturing.” The spot is set to the song “Love Me” by JMSN.

The ad ends with a clip of UFC President Dana White praising Trump as the “toughest, most resilient person that I’ve ever met.”

The commercial started airing Wednesday across the country on cable TV, including Fox News, as well as connected TV, according to AdImpact. The ad-tracking service said the government has spent just over $14,000 to run the ad so far.

That is a small amount of money compared to the tens of millions of dollars that are flooding the airwaves in the final weeks of the midterms, and the ad doesn’t mention any races or candidates. But it marks an atypical use of taxpayer dollars at a time when Trump has sought to make himself front and center in the elections, even though he is not on the ballot.

The White House declined to elaborate on how the ad is being funded but defended it as part of “public service announcements” to promote national pride.

“The ad is educational and unapologetically patriotic,” a White House spokesperson said in a statement. “We should be proud of our country.”

JMSN, the singer-songwriter whose song is the soundtrack of the ad, suggested on X that the administration used “Love Me” without his permission.

“I am looking at lawyers and handling this internally,” JMSN wrote.

The government-funded ads come as Trump’s political operation has started unloading its massive war chest in the midterms. MAGA Inc., the main pro-Trump super PAC, entered September with $416 million cash on hand, according to a recent campaign finance filing.

塞缪尔·科鲁姆/西帕/彭博社/盖蒂图片社

随着中期选举临近，白宫正在播放一则新的电视广告，宣传唐纳德·特朗普总统及其政策，广告中称该广告“由美国政府出资”。

这则不同寻常的30秒广告片快速剪辑了特朗普的画面和视频，配以他谴责共产主义和社会主义的音频，屏幕上的文字则吹捧了他的政府的成就，例如“重振美国制造业”。该广告片的背景音乐是​​JMSN的歌曲《Love Me》。

广告结尾播放了一段 UFC 总裁达纳·怀特称赞特朗普是“我见过的最坚强、最有韧性的人”的视频片段。

据广告追踪服务公司AdImpact的数据显示，这则广告于周三开始在全美有线电视（包括福克斯新闻频道）以及联网电视上播出。该公司表示，迄今为止，政府已为这则广告花费了略高于1.4万美元。

与中期选举最后几周充斥电视和广播的数千万美元广告相比，这笔钱只是九牛一毛，而且这则广告也没有提及任何选举或候选人。但这则广告标志着纳税人资金的一种非典型使用，因为特朗普尽管没有参选，却一直试图让自己成为选举的焦点。

白宫拒绝详细说明该广告的资金来源，但辩称这是旨在提升民族自豪感的“公共服务公告”。

白宫发言人在一份声明中表示：“这则广告既有教育意义，又毫不掩饰地表达了爱国情怀。我们应该为我们的国家感到自豪。”

广告配乐歌曲的演唱者兼词曲作者 JMSN 在 X 上暗示，政府未经他的许可使用了他的歌曲“Love Me”。

JMSN写道：“我正在寻找律师，并打算内部处理此事。”

政府资助的广告投放之际，特朗普的政治团队已开始动用其庞大的竞选资金备战中期选举。据最近提交的竞选财务文件显示，支持特朗普的主要超级政治行动委员会“让美国再次伟大”（MAGA Inc.）在9月初拥有4.16亿美元的现金储备。