#cult-of-personality

The Administration Spent Hundreds of Thousands of Taxpayer Dollars on Cable Ads Glorifying Trump — Labeled "Paid for by the U.S. Government," Set to a Chorus Chanting "Love Me" Over Clips of Him Vowing to "Defeat Communism" — on Top of a $200 Million DHS Ad Campaign He Personally Directed and Asked Secretary Noem to Thank Him In; Even a Republican Senator Said It "Feels Like Viktor Orbán," and Appropriators Call It Illegal Propaganda

In late September 2026, the Trump administration was caught running pro-Trump television ads paid for with public money and labeled, on screen, "Paid for by the U.S. Government." The 30-second spot ran on Fox News, Newsmax, and network channels in markets including Los Angeles and Chicago, featuring Trump vowing that "America will never be a communist country," touting the "largest tax cuts in history" and "reigniting American manufacturing" — all over a soundtrack of a chorus singing "love me," repeatedly. The cost climbed from about $14,000 to more than $440,000. It is part of something larger: House oversight leaders say the Department of Homeland Security has a $200 million taxpayer-funded ad campaign, ordered by Trump, promoting his immigration agenda, and Secretary Kristi Noem has said the president directed her to tape the ads and to thank him in them. Federal law — the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 — bars taxpayer funds from being spent on "publicity or propaganda," and Democratic appropriators called the ad "the sort of government propaganda one might expect in North Korea," demanding it be pulled as an illegal misuse of public money. The criticism was not only partisan: Republican Sen. Thom Tillis called the spending "inappropriate" and said it "feels like Viktor Orbán." The White House defended the ads as "unapologetically American." What they actually are is a personality cult, billed to the public it flatters.

To Close His Dallas Convention, Trump Led the Crowd in a Loyalty Oath to Himself — Calling Himself "the Greatest President in the History of the United States" and Telling Anyone Who Doesn't Vote They'll "Go to Hell" — and, in the Same Breath as His Yearlong Crusade Against Imaginary Democratic "Fraud," Urged His Own Supporters to "Cheat Like Hell": "I Don't Care If I'm Registered or Not"

On September 10, 2026, closing the Republican midterm convention in Dallas, Trump led the crowd in an extended "pledge" to vote — and told them to cheat. In the oath he directed the room to repeat, he said: "I don't care if I'm registered or not. I'm going to try and cheat like hell like they do. There's never been bigger cheaters." He told those who fail to vote that they would "go to hell," and described himself, mid-oath, as "the greatest president in the history of the United States." The moment is remarkable on two fronts. First, it is a sitting president openly urging his supporters to cheat in an election — even framed as bravado, an extraordinary thing for the head of state to say — and it detonates his own justification for a yearlong assault on voting access. Across this archive, Trump has restricted mail ballots, pushed a national voter database, and built a "citizenship verification" apparatus, all in the name of stopping Democratic "fraud" he has never substantiated. Here he tells his own crowd to "cheat like hell," which exposes the fraud rhetoric as projection and pretext: the cheating he warns about is the cheating he is now endorsing, for his side. Second, the "pledge" was to him personally — a loyalty oath to a man who called himself the greatest president in history and consigned non-voters to hell. A get-out-the-vote drive turned into a cult liturgy with a confession of intent to cheat built in.

The Unprecedented Off-Year "Convention" Trump Forced His Party to Stage Finally Happened — and Flopped in Public View: He Took the Stage to Hundreds of Empty Seats and Insisted "This Place Is Packed," Battleground Candidates the GOP Needs Stayed Away, the Program Ran on Hours of Praise for Him, and He Dangled a Vague $5,000 "Dividend" — All While Keeping Up the Social-Media Sprees That Defined His Week

On September 9-10, 2026, the first-ever midterm "convention" — the off-year Trump rally in Dallas that he personally demanded and that his party priced like a fundraiser, documented earlier in this archive — actually took place, and it played out as a self-inflicted embarrassment. Trump keynoted the opening night to an American Airlines Center with hundreds of empty seats, and told the crowd anyway that "this place is packed." A number of Republican lawmakers and candidates skipped it entirely — including some running in the battleground races the party must win to keep the House — a vote of no-confidence from the very people the event was supposed to help. The program leaned on hours of speeches praising Trump before he appeared, and his keynote featured a vague promise to send American adults $5,000 "dividends" if Republicans win control of Congress, an assurance long on number and short on mechanism. All of it unfolded against the backdrop of the erratic Truth Social sprees that have defined his week — renaming New Mexico "New America," a stock-trading brag, a threat to halt global trade. The convention was pitched as a show of strength before November. What it displayed instead was a party that spent a fortune to build a stage for a leader too unpopular for its own candidates to stand on with him — and a leader who looked at a half-empty arena and told everyone it was full.

Republicans Are Staging an Unprecedented Off-Year "Convention" in Dallas That Nominates No One and Conducts No Party Business — a Trump Rally Its Own Organizers Nicknamed "Trumpalooza" — Where "Delegate" Status Isn't Won but Bought: a $25,000 Minimum for House Members to Attend, Rising to a $250,000 "Golden VIP" Package, While Dallas Taxpayers Are Left to Cover Nearly $2 Million in Security

A political convention is supposed to be a gathering of elected delegates who conduct the party's business — above all, nominating its candidate. The Republican Party is holding one anyway, in a year with no presidential nomination to make: a first-of-its-kind midterm convention on September 9-10, 2026, at Dallas's American Airlines Center, that its own organizers have nicknamed "Trumpalooza." It will conduct no official party business. It is a two-day rally built around Donald Trump ahead of the November elections. And its "delegates" are not chosen by voters — they are sold a credential. The National Republican Campaign Committee is asking House members to pay a minimum of $25,000 (with a guest) to attend, with packages rising to $100,000; a California committee's tiers run from $25,000 up to a $250,000 "golden VIP member" package with floor badges, hotels, transfers, gifts, and concierge service; the Texas GOP sells "honorary delegate" credentials for up to $20,000, cowboy hat included. Organizers raised some $45 million privately to fund it — but Dallas taxpayers are still on the hook for roughly $1.8 to $2 million in police and security costs. Even Republican insiders worry aloud that it has become "more of a fundraiser than a convention," pricing out the grassroots volunteers who actually power campaigns. Stripped of its bunting, this is a machine for converting money into proximity to the president, staged as a democratic institution it no longer resembles.

Trump Puts His Face on U.S. Passports — First Living President to Do So

The State Department announced "commemorative" passports for America's 250th birthday featuring Trump's image and gold signature — making him the first living president ever featured inside the document. 25,000–30,000 copies starting before July 4. No prior president — not Washington, Lincoln, FDR, or Reagan — put their own face on a passport while in office.