Trump uses Homeland Security funds for pro-Trump TV ads ahead of the midterm elections

The Trump administration is using federal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funds to pay for a series of controversial television ads promoting President Donald Trump, a few weeks before the midterm elections, as USA Today reports. The Wall Street Journal was the first to reveal the use of Homeland Security funds for these ads.

On September 20, DHS awarded LMD Agency, Inc. a $20 million government contract for a “national media campaign” — three days before the first ad aired. The money had become available a day earlier, when the White House Office of Management and Budget granted Customs and Border Protection (CBP) $20 million from the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” Trump’s 2025 tax and spending law, for “OBBBA commemorative events.” Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine complained that the money “came out of the One Big, Beautiful Bill… it was taken from funds that were supposed to be for Customs and Border Protection.”

Three ads have aired so far, USA Today writes: the first on September 23, with Trump urging Americans to “defeat communism” (singer JMSN sent a cease-and-desist letter on September 28 over the unauthorized use of his song “Love Me”); the second with Trump at Mount Rushmore on July 4 (“This is only the beginning of America’s golden age”); the third during NFL games, identical to the 2024 campaign ad, in which Trump warns of a “final battle” against the “deep state,” Marxists and “criminals.” Each ends with the caption: “Paid for by the U.S. government.” According to the firm AdImpact, the government has spent around $1.7–2 million so far on airing them.

The annual appropriations acts passed by Congress prohibit the use of public money for political advertising and propaganda; the administration is using One Big Beautiful Bill funds to bypass that ban. The White House defends the ads as “public service announcements,” not political ads, arguing that Trump is not on the November ballot and the ads do not mention the election. It calls them “educational and unambiguously patriotic,” comparing them to Biden’s COVID vaccine announcements, Bush’s Medicare announcements, Obama’s, and President FDR’s Office of War Information.

Criticism has come from both parties. Democratic Senators Patty Murray and Chris Murphy sent a letter on September 29 to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin demanding answers within 48 hours: “This defense… is as absurd as it is offensive… you are stealing Americans’ tax dollars to air campaign ads celebrating yourself.” But Republicans have also distanced themselves: Majority Leader John Thune said, “I like the message… but it should not be paid for with taxpayers’ money,” while Senator Thom Tillis said: “I hate it. It looks like Viktor Orbán talking to Hungarians.”

According to USA Today, the controversy comes as Trump has urged supporters to “pretend” he is on the ballot, while at the Republican convention in Dallas participants recited a pledge of loyalty to Trump.