At first blush, the ad might resemble a slick campaign commercial from the 2024 race. The 30-second spot features Donald Trump walking in slow motion, saluting military personnel, speaking in the White House behind a presidential podium and waving to supporters, among other things.
The ad, however, wasn’t from the campaign. Rather, the taxpayer-financed commercial was recently unveiled by the Department of Homeland Security, which budgeted up to $200 million to run anti-immigrant ads — which just happen to thank the president for how awesome his awesomeness is.
That DHS launched such a messaging campaign wasn’t controversial; other modern administrations have taken similar steps as part of a broader effort to discourage illegal border crossings. What made this specific effort controversial, however, is that the ad looks like pro-Trump propaganda, which, according to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, includes messaging that the president personally requested.
The story took an unfortunate turn last week when The Bulwark — relying on data from AdImpact, a tech company that monitors on-air advertising — reported that DHS spent $30,000 “to air the ads in West Palm Beach from February 25 through March 5.”
It was the sort of taxpayer-financed expenditure that suggests the Department of Homeland Security wanted Trump to see the agency’s pro-Trump commercial.
But just when it seemed the story couldn’t get much worse, The Associated Press reported: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security skipped a fully competitive bidding process to give two Republican-linked firms the first part of a $200 million television ad campaign that lauds President Donald Trump for his crackdown on illegal immigration. DHS told news outlets last month that it had undergone a ‘competitive procurement process’ for the campaign. But in a document posted Friday on a federal database, the department said Trump’s declaration of a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border constitutes ‘an unusual and compelling urgency,’ a circumstance that allows federal agencies to bypass the usual competitive process.
According to the AP’s account, which hasn’t been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, DHS still maintains the ad was the result of a “competitive process.” I don’t imagine the Republican majorities on Capitol Hill will even bat an eyelash, but in the recent past, this is the sort of story that would spark a congressional hearing or two, with lawmakers at least asking about whether public funds were handled responsibly.
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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