A new ad is apparently hitting cable television, aimed at propping up President Donald Trump, while the song “Love Me” plays. And it includes an alarming disclaimer, given its content: “Paid for by the U.S. government.”
The ad was spotted by CBS News Miami investigative reporter Jim DeFede, who tweeted a video of it from his television:
In the video, Trump ― who on Thursday rolled out a literal red carpet for communist Chinese leader Xi Jinping ― rails against communism.
“America will never be a communist country,” Trump says in the video.
The video also includes UFC boss Dana White at the 2024 Republican National Convention praising Trump as the “toughest, most resilient person that I’ve ever met and nothing is gonna stop him from fighting so hard for the country he loves.”
The video includes the words “love me” from the song “Love Me” by JMSN, which are sung repeatedly over images of Trump. It’s unclear whether the artist gave permission to include his song, as both Trump and his White House staff have repeatedly used music and images without clearing them.
Unlike most other taxpayer-funded PSAs, this one does not even loosely promote a cause or initiative that benefits the public. It looks more like a campaign ad, especially with White’s RNC excerpt. But since the promotion was paid for by the federal government to run on TV, critics described it as pure propaganda: