written by Aubree Amback / opinion editor and Kyran Waggoner / staff writer
With the midterm election just around the corner, you may be seeing a lot of ads campaigning for a certain candidate to vote for. The president is not in the running for election during this time, but current President Donald Trump doesn’t seem to know this.
Trump used $22 million on five ads that made it seem like he was a candidate. All of the ads were pro-Trump. However, it is illegal to use taxpayer dollars on private campaigns, which is exactly what Trump did.
Despite the ad saying “paid for by the US Government” homeland security says otherwise. In one of the ads paid for by US citizens, it says Trump will make “the largest tax cuts in history.” Which is hypocritical since this is what he is using the money for.
The same ad looked like a Tik Tok edit made in CapCut by a twelve year old. The song “Love Me” by JMSN was playing in the background, implying that everyone loves Trump.
Though, he claims that these ads are not campaign ads, but are simply there to show patriotism. But, if they were showing patriotism, they wouldn’t be solely focused on Trump.
He also claims that it is a public service announcement, but it couldn’t be farther from it.
The fact that he used $22 million dollars on this is mindblowing. Where did the money go? All the ads look very cheap, it was only up for five days, and it only aired on YouTube. It costs about $6-12 per impression to advertise on YouTube. There is no way he used all the money on the ads.
He also reused two ads from his 2024 campaign, which is strange because he can’t run in the midterm since he is the president.
He has also been throwing around ideas about running again in 2028, which he also cannot do since that would be his third term.
“In two and a half years, you may have a different president–may,” Trump said in Michigan, with an emphasis on the “may.”
He has been very back-and-forth on the topic, though, saying he was sad to not be president anymore, to saying he wanted to run a third term.
This also goes against the Constitution, more specifically the 22nd amendment. If he is willing to do something as unconstitutional as this, what other laws will he disregard in the future?
Kristi Noem, governor of South Dakota, did the exact same thing earlier this year and caused a public outcry. She had rented out a horse stable for an ad costing a total of $80,000. This could have been used anywhere but personal gain. When Trump did the same thing with more money, there were no repercussions.
When the United States started dropping bombs on Iran, gas prices skyrocketed. This means the average American is paying even more for a basic necessity.
Now, they are spending even more money for tax, which is used for something as stupid as a MAGA ad. The money could be used for something a lot more helpful, like healthcare. The United States is the only developed country that does not have universal healthcare. If Trump really cared about the American people, he would care about them not affording basic needs in terms of how healthy they are.
Instead of Trump using the people’s money on something as insolent as an ad promoting himself, he should use it saving countless lives, but then again, he doesn’t seem to have any empathy.
86% of US citizens say the ad being paid by tax money was inappropriate, as well as 80% of republicans.
