President Donald Trump said Monday he will no longer use taxpayer money to fund a series of promotional television ads praising his presidency, announcing instead that he will cover the cost personally or with funds raised for MAGA, Inc., his affiliated super PAC.
The statement was posted to Truth Social and carried by the account @FirstSquawk, which relayed the president's message: "TRUMP SAYS THAT RATHER THAN DOING THAT, 'ALTHOUGH NOTHING WILL MAKE THEM HAPPY', HE HAS 'DECIDED TO DO THE PATRIOTIC ADS, AMONG OTHERS, AND PAY FOR THEM MYSELF, AND WITH MONEY I RAISED FOR MAGA, INC.'"
The account @RealAmVoice summarized the same announcement with the headline "TRUMP: I'LL PAY FOR THE 'PATRIOTIC ADS' MYSELF," adding that the president said he would stop using federal funds for ads promoting the United States and instead pay for them personally and with money raised by MAGA Inc. That account also carried a fragment of the president's statement: "Nothing will make them happy."
The account @OANN reported the development in similar terms, noting that Trump said he has decided to personally pay for "Patriotic Ads" and other advertisements after criticism over using U.S. funds to promote the country. That post also said the ads will be paid for with the president's own money and funds he raised for MAGA, Inc.
The announcement follows more than a week of bipartisan criticism over a series of promotional ads that had been funded with taxpayer money. According to coverage from The New York Times, CNN Politics, POLITICO and other outlets, the ads were campaign-style productions promoting the president, and the decision to fund them with federal dollars drew objections from members of both parties.
The New York Times reported that the president said his PAC, MAGA, Inc., would pay for television ads promoting him which had been paid for with taxpayer money. CNN Politics reported that Trump said Monday he will no longer use taxpayer money to fund the series of promotional television ads, announcing that he will instead pay for them with funds raised for MAGA, Inc., the pro-Trump super PAC.
POLITICO reported that after more than a week of bipartisan criticism over ads promoting his presidency with taxpayer money, Trump said he or his MAGA Inc. super PAC would cover the cost. Another outlet reported that the president said he will no longer use taxpayer funds for a series of promotional ads criticized across the aisle, instead using money from his super PAC.
One report, attributed to Alamy, noted that the president said on Monday that he will foot the bill for patriotically-inspired ads, announcing the move in a concise statement posted to Truth Social. The report quoted the president's statement as saying: "The Radical Left is upset with the fact that I am taking Ads, which I consider to be a positive promotion for our ..."
The president's announcement, as relayed through the posts and the subsequent coverage, represents a reversal from the prior arrangement in which federal funds were used to pay for the promotional effort. The posts from @RealAmVoice, @FirstSquawk and @OANN each relayed the president's own framing of the decision, including his statement that "nothing will make them happy" — a reference to his critics.
The underlying claim — that the ads were funded with taxpayer money and that the president has now decided to pay for them through his own resources and MAGA, Inc. — has not been independently confirmed by Next News Network. The president's statement was posted to his Truth Social account and has been widely reported by multiple outlets, but the specific financial arrangements and the details of the prior funding mechanism have not been verified by this network.
What is known is that the president addressed the criticism directly in his statement, saying he had "decided to do the patriotic ads, among others, and pay for them myself, and with money I raised for MAGA, Inc." The statement did not provide further detail on the cost of the ads, the timeline for the change, or the specific source of the MAGA, Inc. funds.
The accounts carrying the story — @RealAmVoice, @FirstSquawk and @OANN — each framed the president's decision as a direct response to the criticism. The coverage from The New York Times, CNN Politics, POLITICO and others similarly characterized the announcement as a response to the backlash, noting that the criticism had been bipartisan.
The president's statement comes as his administration continues to face scrutiny over various spending and promotional activities. The decision to personally fund the ads, as described in the posts and coverage, would remove the taxpayer-funded element that had drawn objections from both sides of the aisle.
It is not yet known whether the ads will continue to run in their current form, what the total cost will be, or whether MAGA, Inc. will disclose the expenditures in future filings. The president's statement did not address those questions.
The posts from the three accounts named above — @RealAmVoice, @FirstSquawk and @OANN — each relayed the president's own words from Truth Social, with slight variations in framing. @RealAmVoice led with the headline "TRUMP: I'LL PAY FOR THE 'PATRIOTIC ADS' MYSELF" and included the quote "Nothing will make them happy." @FirstSquawk carried the full statement as attributed to Truth Social, including the phrase "although nothing will make them happy." @OANN reported that Trump said he has decided to personally pay for "Patriotic Ads" and other advertisements after criticism over using U.S. funds to promote the country.
The coverage from the other outlets — The New York Times, CNN Politics, POLITICO — each independently reported the president's statement, with CNN Politics specifying that the funds will come from MAGA, Inc., the pro-Trump super PAC, and POLITICO noting that the criticism had been ongoing for more than a week.
Next News Network could not independently verify the claims made in the president's statement or the details of the funding arrangements described in the posts and coverage.
Our Take
President Trump's decision to personally fund the "Patriotic Ads" — or to have his super PAC cover the cost — is a smart move that removes a genuine political vulnerability. The criticism over taxpayer-funded promotional ads was bipartisan for a reason: it looked bad, and it gave opponents an easy talking point. By saying he will pay for the ads himself and with money raised for MAGA, Inc., Trump takes that talking point off the table entirely. The president's framing — "nothing will make them happy" — is also on point. The same critics who howled about taxpayer-funded ads will now find something else to complain about, because the objection was never really about the money. It was about the message. The ads promote the country and the president's agenda, and the Left cannot stand that. The president is right to call that out. What remains to be seen is whether the media will now give him credit for doing the right thing, or whether they will simply move on to the next manufactured outrage. Based on the coverage so far, the latter seems more likely.
