Brendan Carr, the man Trump put in charge of America's airwaves, said Wednesday he sees nothing wrong with the president running campaign-style commercials on the public's money. "There's nothing in there that strikes me to merit any sort of FCC review or any liability for any broadcaster for running a regular, normal public service announcement," the Federal Communications Commission chairman said, one day after Public Citizen asked his agency to order stations to stop airing them.
The commission's Democratic member answered him the same day: "This administration has launched an aggressive effort to influence the outcome of the midterm elections."
The ads are three spots tagged "Paid for by the U.S. Government," aired through NFL games, Fox News Sunday and Saturday Night Live this weekend. In the newest, "The Final Battle," Trump strides down a corridor in black and white and vows to "demolish the deep state." His campaign made that ad for 2024. The government is paying to run it in 2026, five weeks before voters pick a Congress.
Republicans watched and winced. "I hate it," Tillis, the retiring North Carolina senator, told reporters Monday. "It feels like Viktor Orbán talking to the Hungarian people." Senate Majority Leader John Thune liked the message and not the bill: "It shouldn't be paid for with taxpayer dollars."
Then Tuesday came. A Democrat asked the Senate to pass a one-line resolution saying the ads should not be paid for by the United States government. One Wyoming Republican objected, arguing presidents of both parties had run public service announcements, and that was the end of it.
The party that hates the ads has not lifted a finger to stop them, and the money trail shows where the finger would have to point.
