Trump slammed for 'illegal' US TV ads funded by taxpayers

US President Donald Trump faced bipartisan criticism Monday for taxpayer-funded television advertisements promoting himself just weeks ahead of crucial midterm elections.

One of the ads was screened during an NFL game on Sunday night, featuring Republican Trump warning of a "final battle" over black-and-white footage of him walking down a hallway.

The ads feature an onscreen message saying "Paid for by the US Government."

US media said the ad appeared to be almost identical to a political advertisement for Trump broadcast during his 2024 presidential election campaign.

The White House described the ads as "unapologetically patriotic" public service announcements and compared them to messages from previous presidents during wartime and national crises.

But there has been backlash from both sides of the US political divide.

"You can't spend public money to promote yourself," Republican Senator John Kennedy told CBS "Face The Nation" on Sunday.

Democratic Senator John Hickenlooper described the ads on X on Monday as "propaganda," "illegal" and "un-American."

Mike Levin, a Democratic member of the House of Representatives, said: "It's propaganda, and you're paying the bill."

The first ad was broadcast last week and features a song saying "Love Me" while Trump proclaims "America will never be a communist country."

The second, "final battle" ad broadcast over the weekend, features Trump's voice saying: "We will cast out the communists, Marxists and fascists. We will throw off the sick political class that hates our country. We will rout the fake news media, and we will liberate America from these villains, once and for all."

A White House spokesperson said in a statement to AFP that latest ad was "educational and unapologetically patriotic. We should be proud of our country."

"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 spokesperson added.

Trump administration sources compared the ads to previous public service announcements including Joe Biden's Covid vaccination campaign and Franklin Roosevelt's promotion of the war effort during World War II.

A White House official said the ads were "clearly not political," adding: "The President is not on the ballot and the ads don't have a call to action."

But Trump himself urged voters to "pretend that I'm on the ballot" for the midterm elections in a keynote speech at a Republican Party convention in Dallas earlier this month.