A taxpayer-funded TV ad featuring President Donald Trump and referencing “the final battle” in the weeks leading up to the 2026 midterm elections aired across Fox Sports college football and NFL broadcasts this weekend, raising the hackles of critics on both sides of the aisle.
The ad featured Trump walking down a hallway while a voiceover delivered comments similar to a speech he gave on Veterans Day in 2023.
“We will cast out the communists, Marxists, and fascists. We will throw off the sick political class that hates our country. We will rout the fake news media, and we will liberate America from these villains once and for all,” said Trump in the ad.
At the end of the ad, a chyron read “Paid for by the US Government.”
The ad ran on Saturday during Fox’s presentation of the Ohio State-Illinois game as well as during various NFL games on Sunday.
This was the third in a series of government-funded ads that have appeared in recent days featuring Trump with audio of him denouncing communism and socialism or touting the administration’s accomplishments.
The White House has defended itself from accusations that the ads are campaign-related, given they’re airing a little over a month before the midterms. The Trump Administration says they are public service announcements and “are very clearly not campaign ads” but are about “reminding Americans to love their country and understand what makes it worth defending, at home, at our borders, and abroad.”
They appear to be in the minority in seeing the ads that way.
“I don’t think you have to be a legal scholar and wonder why the president has to use taxpayer funds to promote his image [close to an election], Carol Evans, vice president for policy at government watchdog group Common Cause, told CNN.
New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim, a Democrat, criticized the ad on X, asking “how much taxpayer money did the government spend on this ad?”
“This is the sort of government propaganda one might expect in North Korea, not the United States of America, and it is an egregious and illegal misuse of Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars,” Senators Patty Murray and Jack Reed, and Representatives Rosa DeLauro and Steny Hoyer wrote in a letter to Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, on Thursday.
The ads also drew condemnation from Republicans.
“I don’t think any public official, including President Trump or Kristi Noem or John Kennedy, should spend public money … on private ads for themselves,” Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy told CBS News on Sunday. “Now, the White House sees it differently. But … I think there ought to be a rule that you can’t – well, there probably is a rule – you can’t spend public money to promote yourself.”
GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a longtime critic of the Trump administration, wrote on X, “Don’t worry, using taxpayer dollars to run ominous campaign ads of the President has been done before and is completely legal… in banana republics.”
“A taxpayer-funded propaganda TV spot. This is the most shameless administration of our lifetime,” former Republican congressman Justin Amash wrote.
From our perspective, what’s notable is that Fox was the only network to run the ads this weekend during football. We are unaware of any of these ads running during CFB or NFL programming on ESPN, ABC, CBS, or NBC. The ad did air during Fox News Sunday and NBC’s Saturday Night Live, per ad-analytics firm AdImpact, which also said the ad has cost taxpayers more than $362,000 so far.
As for why Fox felt comfortable running the ads, which various people have described as “propaganda,” during its football broadcasts, that’s unknown. Awful Announcing has reached out to Fox for comment.
Airing commercials with fascist overtones is a troubling trend for the network, which found itself in hot water when Fox-owned-and-operated affiliates aired a Kanye West Super Bowl commercial in 2025 that promoted a website with swastika shirts. While the company didn’t comment on why it agreed to the ads, agreeing to run commercials from West, who was ranting about being a Nazi in the lead-up to the Super Bowl, sent a disturbing enough message.
That said, Fox has long been the major network most open to showcasing Trump and his agendas (though ESPN has given them a run for their money recently). Last year, Trump appeared in a Fox broadcasting booth during a Commanders-Lions game. In August, they posted an effusive video to social media touting Trump as “the sports president.” Rupert Murdoch, the Fox Corporation patriarch, reportedly wined and dined Trump to ramp up federal pressure on the NFL over media rights earlier this year. And on Saturday, despite ESPN broadcasting the Texas-Tennessee game with College GameDay in tow, Trump was interviewed by Clay Travis, who appears on Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff.
The Trump Administration doesn’t seem concerned about the criticism over the propaganda ads, so by all accounts they’ll keep using taxpayer money to air them during high-profile broadcasts leading up to the election. If Fox or any other network keeps running them, especially given the current political winds, we suppose that will say more than a statement ever could.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.