#propaganda
11 entries with this tag
A Federal Judge Ordered the Trump Administration to Immediately Stop the Taxpayer-Funded TV Ads Starring the President — Ruling That DHS Had Likely Broken the Law by Diverting $20 Million Congress Appropriated for Immigration Enforcement Into Spots Touting Trump's Record Less Than a Month Before the Midterms — and the Administration Kept Airing Them Anyway, Drawing a Contempt Hearing
On October 11, 2026, U.S. District Judge Jennifer Rochon issued a temporary restraining order forcing the Trump administration to immediately halt the taxpayer-funded television ads featuring President Trump — the DHS-run campaign this archive has already documented. The ruling was blunt about why: DHS had taken $20 million that Congress appropriated for immigration enforcement and spent it on ads that, in the judge's words, "misappropriated government funds," touting the president's record less than a month before the midterm elections. The suit was brought by a coalition including Common Cause and SEIU Local 32BJ, represented by the legal group Democracy Forward; the Democratic National Committee filed its own parallel suit the same day. Rochon ordered DHS to stop producing and distributing the ads, to cancel television slots already reserved, and barred new or expanded ad agreements for the 14-day life of the order, finding the government had no good legal defense. Then the administration kept some of the ads running after the order, blaming "email delays," and the court set a hearing to decide whether it had violated the injunction. Using public money appropriated for one purpose to run campaign-style ads for the president is a straightforward abuse; being ordered to stop and continuing anyway is contempt of a court's authority on top of it.
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.
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.
The Pentagon Secretly Put MAGA Social-Media Influencers — Retired Colonels With Hundreds of Thousands of Followers Who Spend Their Days Praising Defense Secretary Hegseth and Attacking the Reporters Who Scrutinize Him — on the Government Payroll as "Special Government Employees," in Undisclosed Roles With Official Email Addresses but No Stated Duties, and the Pentagon Won't Say What They Do or Whether Taxpayers Are Paying Them
According to a Washington Post investigation published August 30, 2026, the Pentagon has quietly installed several conservative military veterans with large online followings into government positions — declining to disclose their assignments — where they amplify Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's viewpoints and attack those who scrutinize the Trump administration. Among them: Rob Maness, a retired Air Force colonel with roughly 130,000 followers on X; Kurt Schlichter, a retired Army colonel and columnist with nearly 620,000 followers; and Thomas Anderson, a retired colonel who regularly defends Hegseth to his 320,000-plus followers. They were brought on as "special government employees" or "highly qualified experts," hold official Pentagon email addresses, and at least two report to the office of Anthony Tata, the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness — in roles that the Post reports could shape policy. Yet the Pentagon refused to tell the Post what these people actually do, how long their jobs last, or whether they are drawing a taxpayer-funded salary. In other words: the Defense Department appears to have put partisan influencers on the public payroll to run domestic political messaging for the Secretary and to go after his critics, and then declined to account for any of it. The military is supposed to serve the whole country and stay out of partisan politics. This turns a slice of it into Hegseth's personal PR and troll operation, paid for — as far as anyone outside will confirm — by the public it is aimed at.
Six Months Into the Iran War He Sold as a Weeks-Long "Little Excursion," Trump Declared Victory by Posting an AI Meme of Himself Reading "Mission Accomplished 2026" — Reviving the Most Notorious Premature Victory Boast in Modern American History, the One Bush Staged Aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln — the Very Carrier Now Stranded at Sea Past 260 Days Because This War Won't End; and Around the Same Time, He Approved Sending More Troops
Six months into a war he had promised would be a weeks-long "little excursion," Trump declared he had won it — by posting an AI-generated meme of himself standing between George W. Bush and Iran's slain supreme leader, with one placard reading "Mission Not Accomplished 2001–2021" and another "Mission Accomplished 2026." The imagery deliberately invokes the single most infamous premature victory declaration in modern American history: Bush's 2003 "Mission Accomplished" banner, staged aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, after which the Iraq war ground on for eight more years. Trump apparently intended the comparison to flatter himself; it does the opposite. The war with Iran is not over. There is no final agreement. The Strait of Hormuz is not reliably reopened. His own defense secretary's "decisive military victory" and his serial victory claims — 58 ships sunk in March, a "deal" in June — have all been overtaken by a conflict that keeps going. And in the clearest tell of all, at roughly the same moment he declared the war won, Trump approved the deployment of more troops to the Middle East. You do not reinforce a war you have finished. The victory lap and the reinforcements cannot both be true, and the reinforcements are the ones with soldiers attached. There is even a grim symmetry Trump seems not to have noticed: the carrier that hosted Bush's false victory in 2003, the USS Abraham Lincoln, is the same ship this archive has documented stranded at sea past 260 days, its sailors rationed to corn dogs, because Trump's war has no end.
Hegseth Accused of Lying to Trump About Iran War Progress — "Not Speaking Truth to the President"
White House officials say Hegseth is feeding Trump false information about the war. He bragged about "complete control of Iranian skies" on March 4. A month later, two U.S. jets were shot out of the sky. Official: "Pete is not speaking truth to the president."
White House Officials: Trump "Bored" with Iran War — Wants to "Move On"
Four weeks into a war costing $25B+, with 13 U.S. troops and 1,900+ Iranians dead, a senior White House official said Trump is "getting a little bored with Iran" and "just wants to declare victory and move on." Aides are "just drinking the Kool-Aid."
Trump's Iran War Briefings Are 2-Minute Videos of "Stuff Blowing Up"
NBC News revealed Trump receives daily 2-minute video montages of successful strikes as his war briefing — a "highlight reel" of "stuff blowing up." He wasn't told when 5 Air Force planes were hit. His resigned NCTC chief says dissenting views were blocked.
Claimed Iran Bombed Their Own School
After a U.S. missile strike destroyed an Iranian girls' school killing over 170 children, Trump claimed — without evidence — that Iran had bombed their own school, contradicting independent investigations, his own Pentagon, and multiple international observers.
MyPillow CEO's LindellTV Given White House and Pentagon Press Access — While Real Journalists Are Evicted
Mike Lindell's conspiracy-promoting LindellTV was given White House press room access and Pentagon press corps credentials — alongside Gateway Pundit and Epoch Times. Meanwhile, AP was banned, photographers were evicted, and the Pentagon closed its Correspondents' Corridor.
Kim Jong Un "Love Letters" Got Nothing
Trump held three summits with Kim Jong Un, exchanged "love letters," cancelled military exercises, and legitimized the dictator on the world stage. North Korea got everything; the U.S. got nothing. NK expanded from ~30 to ~50 warheads.