Move Fast and Break Democracy
Donald Trump sets a dizzying pace of corruption and contempt for the rule of law. So perhaps it isn’t a shock that Trump directed that 20 million of our tax dollars be spent on national TV ads glorifying him. The president claimed these are public service advertisements but no one’s fooled: Even GOP Sen. John Kennedy, who votes with Trump nearly 100% of the time, called out the ads as self-promotional and “probably” illegal. Probably?
Trump finally got the message and announced that his Super PAC would foot the bill for the ads after all. Oh, but that’s illegal too: Officeholders are barred from controlling Super PACs or directing their spending. And Trump doesn’t plan to pay back the Treasury for what he’s already spent on the ads.
But who can blame Trump for feeling untouchable, given the Supreme Court’s decision granting him virtual carte blanche immunity.
But even that immunity has its limits. Chief Justice Roberts wrote: “The President enjoys no immunity for his unofficial acts, and not everything the President does is official.” And Roberts went on to observe that there are contexts in which the president “speaks in an unofficial capacity—perhaps as a candidate for office or party leader.” In those cases, the president’s claim to immunity depends on the “content, form, and context” of his speech.
The first ad features images of Trump, praises his policies and repeatedly declares, that “America will never be a communist country,” as if ominously gathering forces were about to plant a hammer and sickle on the White House lawn. The second spot features footage of Trump at Mount Rushmore proclaiming, “This is only the beginning of the golden age of America.” The third ad was, in fact, recycled from Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. In it, he declares this to be “the final battle” to “demolish the deep state” and “rout the fake news media.” However, rather than saying “Paid for by Donald J. Trump for President,” the recycled version says it was “Paid for by the U.S. government.”
The three ads are full of Trump aggrandizement, innuendo, and hyper-partisan intimations, all dressed up in red, white and blue, and blasted out during the late stages of a sharply contested midterm election. They have nothing to do with the business of the executive branch.
According to the White House ethics advisor under George W. Bush, the ads constitute impeachable offenses. Federal appropriations law prohibits funds from being used on propaganda. And the Antideficiency Act bars the government from spending money that wasn’t appropriated by Congress; violations are punishable by fine and two years in prison. The statute of limitations won’t expire for offenses related to these ads until well after Trump leaves office in 2028.
As the chief justice wrote, “Like everyone else, the President is subject to prosecution in his unofficial capacity.”
Except Roberts left out one small detail: Trump wields the pardon power and does so with impunity. He won’t forget himself.
