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Welcome to Wednesday! It’s Andrew and Swin, again. The Trump White House is embroiled in yet another blundering scandal of its own making and if you privately press a bunch of Trump officials on who’s involved, they very quickly start singing the Shaggy defense.
In today’s ‘First Draft,’ we’ll dive right into Donald Trump’s Love-Me-gate, and reveal some new details about the scandal of Trump’s TV ad campaign. Plus, MAGA Missouri Senator Eric Schmitt tries to slam dunk former Special Counsel Jack Smith, only to end up badly embarrassing himself on the national stage. Let’s jump in.
‘Obviously Illegal’
Team Trump privately admits it’s illegal. They’re doing it anyway, largely because the president of the United States got mad at his TV again.
Over the past week, Donald Trump and his White House have rolled out a series of campaign-style TV ads – paid for by the U.S. taxpayer and federal government – imploring viewers to, among other things, “Love Me” and reject the “communists” and “warmongers,” in a “final battle.” (Several Trump advisers concede to Zeteo that it verges on self-satire that this president would run against warmongering at this point.)
One of the ads is virtually identical to a 2024 Trump campaign ad, as if to collapse any notion that these ads aren’t geared toward the fast-approaching 2026 elections or openly partisan politics. While federal laws very clearly prohibit government use of taxpayer dollars to fund purely political propaganda campaigns, the second Trump administration has exhibited a profound commitment to its unique legal philosophy: “What are you gonna do about it?”
Spokespeople for the White House have insisted there’s nothing illegal about their ad campaign, claiming that the taxpayer-funded TV spots are “public service announcements” and not partisan propaganda meant to influence the 2026 midterms.
This claim is somewhat undermined by the fact that President Trump himself, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter, has privately referred to them as “midterm ads.”