You’ve probably seen one of these commercials by now: they’re the same kind of edits you see MAGA accounts pushing on X, starring Trump and his cabinet and talking up the administration. They were paid for with 20 million dollars of taxpayer money that Trump personally asked his budget director to find. Even the GOP was furious at the blatant misuse of public funds, especially from an administration that has focused so much on fraud and waste.
A federal judge ordered them off the air for good. She found the ads were an illegal misuse of appropriated funds and told the administration to cancel every remaining buy.
So the Trump administration lost in court. That’s nothing new. But here’s the kicker: it didn’t even try. The ads were so blatantly illegal that not even the DOJ could defend them.
They’re not saying the ads are legal. They’re just saying the ads will be over soon, so there’s no need for legal action. That’s the whole defense: “we’re done anyway, so can’t you just let it slide?”
Remember that the White House spent two weeks insisting that the ads were just standard PSAs. No one was buying that, so Trump caved and announced his super PAC would foot the bill going forward. Now a judge has officially pulled the plug.
Even before the courts got involved, the American people knew this was wrong. A Reuters poll found over 85% of Americans opposed to the ads. In today’s political climate, you never see numbers like that.
I’m glad Americans can agree on this, and I’m glad the courts stepped in. But millions of dollars worth of damage has already been done, and the taxpayers want to know: where’s our refund?
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