Senate Majority Leader John Thune, flanked by Sen. John Barrasso, holds his weekly press conference following the Republican caucus policy luncheon at Capitol in Washington, D.C., May 6, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
President Donald Trump's latest round of ads has been attacked as "demented" and "incredibly illegal, and now, per The Hill, Republican lawmakers are breaking with him yet again to oppose them for crossing a major "red line."
Trump this weekend dropped his latest ad, featuring soundbites from a speech in which he called his political enemies "villains," and vowed to oust "communists" and "marxists" from the country. The 30-second commercial raised many alarms, however, for the disclosure that it was funded by tax dollars from the U.S. government, something that flies in the face of campaign finance laws. This was also the latest in a string of new self-serving ads about Trump, at a time when voters are set to punish Republicans in the midterms for his failures.
According to a report from The Hill Tuesday morning, a number of Republicans in the Senate, while supportive of some of the messaging in the ads, took Trump to task for wasting tax dollars on them.
"It’s a great message, I like the message, but it shouldn’t be paid for by taxpayer dollars," Senate Majority Leader John Thune told the press on Monday.
“It would not have been something that I would have done,” Sen. Mike Rounds, a South Dakota Republican, said about the ads. “I know that the White House is not covered by the same guidance that we are, but it’s not something I would have done. I just don’t think it’s right to be using taxpayer money in that way, particularly if it’s tied to political campaigns. I think they need to rethink that strategy.”
Sen. John Cornyn, a noted enemy of Trump, said that the ads crossed a "red line," given how indistinguishable they are from things he and his team released during past campaigns.
"We all know you’re not supposed to use taxpayer money for that purpose," Cornyn said.
In particular, The Hill reported that the new ad was "nearly identical to an online ad that Trump posted to his Truth Social account in January 2024, when he was preparing to launch his presidential campaign."
"In that online ad, he urged supporters to text 'TRUMP to 88022' to support his campaign," the outlet explained.
"If it were me as a senator, it would be a problem,” Sen. John Curtis, a Utah Republican, said. “I don’t know their rules as well as I know mine, but I know mine would prohibit that."
"I don’t think any public official, including President Trump… should spend public money on private ads for themselves,” Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, said on CBS News over the weekend. “The White House sees it differently."
The White House's official response claimed that the commercials were "very clearly not campaign ads," and argued that they were intended to be “a reminder for Americans to love their country and know why it’s worth defending.”