A federal judge in Manhattan issued a temporary restraining order Sunday evening blocking President Donald Trump’s government-funded television advertisements, ordering the White House to stop producing commercial spots ahead of the midterm elections.
U.S. District Judge Jennifer Rochon signed the order just before 7 p.m., freezing any remaining airtime and locking down the balance of a $20 million Department of Homeland Security advertising budget, according to the Daily Wire.
The lawsuit, brought by Common Cause and labor union leaders, sought to immediately halt all active contracts and future airings of the ads. The spots featured Trump promoting his administration’s accomplishments while issuing a warning that “America will never be a communist country.”
The administration had already notified the court that the ads would cease by the end of the weekend, but Rochon issued the ruling regardless.
Trump Says He’ll Pay for Ads Himself
Trump addressed the controversy in an October 5 post on Truth Social, writing that the “Radical Left is upset with the fact that I am taking Ads, which I consider to be a positive promotion for our Great U.S.A., and paying for them with U.S.A. money.”
He described the practice as “a rather standard thing to do” but said he had decided to fund the ads personally and through money raised for MAGA, Inc.
“I have decided to do the Patriotic Ads, among others, and pay for them myself, and with money I raised for MAGA, Inc.,” Trump wrote.
Both Parties Have Used Public Funds for Messaging
While Democrats have framed the Trump ads as an unprecedented abuse of federal resources, the Daily Wire argues that the outrage overlooks a long-standing Washington reality: spending taxpayer money on self-promotional media campaigns has been a bipartisan practice for years.
The outlet points to several examples from previous Democratic administrations. In 2010, Republicans criticized a Department of Health and Human Services Medicare advertisement featuring actor Andy Griffith, arguing it violated the spirit of federal laws governing government communications.
Five years later, in 2015, the Government Accountability Office determined that Barack Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency had violated federal anti-propaganda and anti-lobbying rules through a social media campaign promoting its Waters of the U.S. rule.
More recently, the Biden-Harris administration directed hundreds of millions in federal dollars toward its “We Can Do This” campaign promoting COVID-19 vaccines, which saturated the airwaves with messaging.
The Daily Wire’s report suggests that the Democratic outcry over Trump’s ads is selectively applied, given this history of publicly funded communications efforts under previous administrations.
The restraining order represents a significant legal setback for the administration just as the midterm campaign season enters its final stretch. It remains unclear whether the White House will appeal the ruling or pursue alternative avenues for the advertising effort.
Source: www.dailywire.com — https://www.dailywire.com/news/democrats-cry-foul-over-trumps-ads-but-their-own-history-tells-another-story