Treat Trump’s Reversal of Paying Propaganda Ads With Taxpayers’ Funds to MAGA PAC Payments With Skepticism

Oct 10, 2026 05:33 PM EDT, Sat

Why Trump unexpectedly reversed course on taxpayer-funded campaign ads

The president is taking a step toward resolving an ongoing election-season scandal, but there are plenty of unanswered questions that need answers.

By Steve Benen

Oct. 6, 2026, 8:58 AM EDT

As this week got underway and JD Vance prepared to hit the campaign trail in Alaska, a reporter asked the vice president a straightforward question: Does he believe publicly funded campaign ads are “a good use of taxpayer dollars”?

The Ohio Republican replied, “I’m sure that some people don’t like it, but if you look at the message of those advertisements, they’re not partisan.” He added that, as far as he’s concerned, there’s nothing “unusual” about the election-season tactics.

Like too much of what the vice president says, the argument was plainly absurd. The White House has used taxpayer money to air political propaganda — including one commercial that was one of Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign ads — which is both legally dubious and unprecedented, making Vance’s defense literally unbelievable.

But in an unexpected move, hours later, the president went in the opposite direction. MS NOW reported:

President Donald Trump’s super PAC will pay for his campaign-style television ads moving forward, a White House official told MS NOW on Monday, shifting the cost away from taxpayers after the government-funded ad drew bipartisan backlash.

The clarification came hours after Trump said in a Liars Club post that he would stop using taxpayer dollars to fund the ads and suggested he could pay for them himself or with money raised by MAGA Inc. Asked whether Trump intended to use his personal money or his super PAC funds, a White House official told MS NOW that MAGA Inc. will pay for the ads “moving forward.”

Trump’s online statement said he decided to reverse course in response to fury from “the Radical Left,” which was bizarre, not only because many Republican officials publicly denounced the misuse of public funds, but also because the president has never taken much of an interest in what has sparked complaints from “the Radical Left.”

What’s more, the fact that Trump’s super PAC will pay for the ads “moving forward” leaves lingering questions about when, if ever, the administration intends to repay taxpayers for the millions of dollars that have already been spent on the propagandistic messaging.

But as the dust settles on the latest developments, it’s also worth pausing to ask why, exactly, the president suddenly decided to abandon his plans. This obviously requires some speculation, but there are plenty of possibilities.

Maybe White House lawyers told him this was a fight he’d lose: It is illegal under federal law to use public funds for “propaganda purposes,” and the Government Accountability Office has said the prohibition applies to communications that are “purely partisan” and/or “designed to aid a political party or candidates.”

With this in mind, it’s very easy to believe the White House counsel’s office let Trump and his team know that they were inviting real consequences — including possible impeachment efforts — by brazenly flouting legal limits.

Maybe the president saw the polls: The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll found that a whopping 86% of Americans — including 4 out of 5 self-identified Republican voters — agree that it’s wrong to use taxpayer money to pay for campaign ads.

With four weeks remaining before Election Day, it’s plausible to think White House officials didn’t see much of a point to rallying behind a gambit opposed by 86% of the country.

Maybe Trump succumbed to Republican pressure: With so little time left in the cycle, it stands to reason that GOP officials and candidates asked the White House to change direction, rather than have this potentially illegal misuse of public funds detract from the party’s closing message.

Are we sure he’s actually reversing course? According to the president and his team, they’re shifting the cost for the midterm ads away from taxpayers. The trouble is that the president and his team say all sorts of things all the time, and many of those claims prove false.

If Trump really is going to stop misusing taxpayer money for this ad campaign, it’s a step toward resolving the scandal. But if recent history has taught us anything, it’s that the president’s claims should be treated with reflexive skepticism, and it’ll be worth watching whether the cost burden for the campaign ads is actually shifted to Trump’s super PAC.

Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”

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