Don Lemon Says Donald Trump's Taxpayer-Funded 'PSA' Ads Are Really Campaign Ads

Podcast host Don Lemon said Monday that the White House's new taxpayer-funded television spots featuring President Donald Trump are campaign advertising in all but name. The midterm elections are 36 days away.

"Because at what point does a public service announcement stop being public information and starts becoming a campaign commercial?" — Don Lemon

Lemon pointed out that the spot closes with a government funding disclaimer.

What the White House Ad Shows

The spot, in which Trump declares "This is the final battle," shows him walking down a hallway while he vows to "demolish the deep state" and "throw off the sick political class that hates our country." It ends with the words "Paid for by the U.S. Government," NBC News reported.

NBC News found the ad nearly identical to a video Trump posted on Truth Social in January 2024. The government version drops the original closing line, "Join President Trump's fight to save America," and the campaign logo.

The ad-tracking firm AdImpact estimated that the administration has spent more than $1.7 million on the spots. The White House has not said which agency or account paid for them. Spectrum News reported that more than $300,000 had been spent airing the newest ad in the series.

White House Defends the Spots as Public Service Announcements

A White House statement to NBC News said, "The ad is educational and unapologetically patriotic." A White House official said, "The PSAs are clearly not political. The president is not on the ballot, and the ads don't have a call to action."

White House Communications Director Steven Cheung dismissed news coverage as "lies about our epic Public Service Announcements," Spectrum News reported.

What Federal Law Says About Government Propaganda

Since 1951, annual spending bills have barred the use of appropriated funds "for publicity or propaganda purposes not authorized by the Congress," and the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026, repeats that ban, Reason reported. The Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congress's spending watchdog, reads the ban as covering material that is covert, self-aggrandizing or purely partisan.

Several named critics have said the spending crosses the line. Richard Painter, the chief White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush, said the ads are "propaganda" and "cannot be paid for by the American taxpayer." In a Thursday letter, congressional Democrats on appropriations panels demanded the removal of an earlier spot in the same series, the "Love Me" ad, calling it "the sort of government propaganda one might expect in North Korea" and "an egregious and illegal misuse of Americans' hard-earned tax dollars," Time reported.

Some Republicans have raised objections too. Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana, pointing to the scrutiny of former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's $220 million border-security ad campaign, said no official, whether Trump, Noem or himself, "should spend public money on private ads for themselves." Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, speaking about the earlier "Love Me" ad, called it "inappropriate" and compared it to practices in Viktor Orbán's Hungary, according to Time.

Past GAO Rulings on Government-Funded Advertising

In 2005, the GAO found that the Education Department under President George W. Bush had produced "covert propaganda." The department had paid the public relations firm Ketchum $188,543.48, and Ketchum subcontracted $186,000 to commentator Armstrong Williams's company to promote the No Child Left Behind Act without disclosing the government's sponsorship. In 2015, the GAO ruled that the Obama-era Environmental Protection Agency had engaged in covert propaganda when it concealed its role in a social media campaign promoting its clean water rule.

Both rulings turned on the government hiding its role. The Trump spots carry a disclaimer, so critics' case rests on the GAO's separate bar on partisan or self-aggrandizing material.

What Happens Next

The spots are airing as Trump's approval sits at 37.6 percent in PolitiKool's polling average, and Democrats lead by 7.5 points in PolitiKool's polling average of the generic congressional ballot.

Lemon compared the reaction to what would happen under a Democratic president. "Can you imagine if Barack Obama did this?" he asked.