The Washington Post Traced the Money Behind Trump's "Love Me" Propaganda Ads: It Was Routed Through a Homeland Security Budget Line Designated for Memorials to Police Officers Killed in the Line of Duty — and Drawn From Billions Meant for Border Security — When the White House Padded That Line by $20 Million on September 19 and DHS Awarded a $20 Million Pro-Trump "National Media Campaign" Contract the Very Next Day
On October 1, 2026, The Washington Post reported where the Trump administration's campaign-style television ads — the ones labeled "Paid for by the U.S. Government," including the spot with a chorus chanting "love me" over the president — actually got their money. According to the Post, the funds were drawn from pots Congress approved for border-security upgrades, combating drug trafficking, and memorials for officers killed in the line of duty. The mechanism is the damning part. On September 19, the White House Office of Management and Budget added $20 million to a Department of Homeland Security budget line designated for "commemorative events" — a line Congress intended for "Line-of-Duty death memorials, Department or agency anniversaries, and commendation ceremonies." The next day, September 20, DHS awarded a $20 million contract for a "National Media Campaign" to a Maryland advertising firm. To put the $20 million into that memorial line in the first place, OMB reached into the roughly $6.7 billion the law had allocated to Customs and Border Protection. In plain terms: the administration took money meant to honor slain police officers (itself diverted from border security), and one day later spent the identical sum on advertisements glorifying the president. Experts say using appropriated funds this way likely violates the federal ban on government propaganda; Democrats call it flatly illegal. The administration that never stops invoking "back the blue" raided the fund for the fallen to pay for a commercial begging Americans to love Donald Trump.