The Daily BS • Bo Snerdley Cuts Through It!
The Daily BS • Bo Snerdley Cuts Through It!

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Trump’s ‘Final Battle’ campaign ad is back — but there’s one big difference

by

BS BULLETIN:

  • The Trump administration is airing a taxpayer-funded ad virtually identical to a Trump 2024 campaign spot.
  • The old version asked viewers to “Join President Trump’s Fight for America.” The new one ends with: “Paid for by the U.S. Government.”
  • Ethics watchdogs and lawmakers are challenging the spending, while the White House says the spots are legitimate public service announcements.

If this Trump ad looks familiar, there’s a pretty good reason.

You may have already seen it during the 2024 campaign.

The Trump administration has begun airing a 30-second government-funded spot featuring President Donald Trump’s old “Final Battle” message — and the Associated Press reports that it’s virtually identical to the version his presidential campaign used two years ago.

There is, however, one rather important change.

The 2024 version ended by urging viewers to “Join President Trump’s Fight for America.”

The 2026 version?

“Paid for by the U.S. Government.”

The black-and-white ad shows Trump walking down a hallway while his voice delivers the familiar promise to “demolish the deep state,” expel “warmongers,” drive out “globalists” and “cast out the communists, Marxists and fascists.”

“We will throw off the sick political class that hates our country,” Trump says. “We will rout the fake news media, and we will liberate America from these villains once and for all.”

According to AdImpact, spending on this particular spot had already topped roughly $319,000 by Sunday.

And that’s where the fight begins.

Public Citizen filed a complaint with the Government Accountability Office and Office of Special Counsel over the administration’s taxpayer-funded advertising campaign, arguing that government resources are being used for partisan political purposes.

Democratic lawmakers have raised similar objections, and some Republicans have also criticized the government-funded advertising campaign.

The White House strongly disputes that characterization.

It says the commercials are public service announcements, not campaign ads, noting that Trump himself isn’t on the ballot in November and that the ads contain no call to action.

“These public service announcements are about reminding Americans to love their country and understand what makes it worth defending, at home, at our borders, and abroad,” the White House said.

The administration also points to advertising campaigns run under previous presidents, including George W. Bush’s promotion of Medicare changes and the Biden administration’s COVID vaccination campaign.

There is an obvious distinction critics are seizing on: Those advertisements promoted particular government programs or policies.

This one began life as an actual Trump campaign ad.

And with the midterm elections barely a month away, that distinction is now likely to get considerably more attention.

DBS WIRE SOURCES:

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