“Because the GOP is in such a bad spot, five weeks out from the midterms,” Ali Velshi told his The 11th Hour audience, “the Trump administration is now also using your taxpayer dollars to air . . . political ads that feature the president.
“Not only is that a blatantly wasteful misuse of taxpayer money,” Velshi continued, “it’s unethical and likely illegal.”
And here is the zinger: “But it’s also a bad political move.”
It’s not every day that I’m this simpatico with an MS Now host.
What is Mr. Trump thinking? It’s simply the wrong way to govern: Using the public purse to broadcast pro-yourself messages to the people.
And is there any constituency — outside of Mr. Trump — for these television spots? One that would override the stench from misusing public resources in broad daylight on Fifth Avenue?
The White House calls these ads public service announcements.
The whole thing smacks of leader-worship. Plus, the messages are purely political. The timing seems awfully vote-solicitous: “Together we
The third spot, “The Final Battle,” recycles a 2023 political ad, with Trump promising that (once again) “we” will “demolish the Deep State,” “expel the warmongers from our government,” “drive out the globalists,” “cast out the communists, Marxists and fascists,” and “throw off the sick political class that hates our country” and more.
Trump is not on the ballot, but his policies are. So, by all means, Mr. President, get the word out.
With private funds.
“It’s a great message. I like the message,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune offered, “but it shouldn’t be paid for with taxpayer dollars.”
That’s common sense, I agree. I’m Paul Jacob.
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7 replies on “Bad Move”
The US slides further into ba(na)ⁿ republicanism….
None of the following seemed to upset you!
“ 20 notable false or misleading Trump statements
1. “The 2020 election was stolen.”
Repeatedly claimed widespread fraud cost him the election. Recounts, audits, courts and election officials found no fraud sufficient to change the outcome.
2. “I won the 2020 election, by a lot.”
Biden received 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232 and won the popular vote by more than 7 million votes. The assertion that Trump actually won has no evidentiary basis.
3. “Mexico will pay for the wall.”
Mexico did not pay for the U.S. border wall. The construction was funded by the U.S. government.
4. “Millions of illegal votes were cast in 2016.”
Trump claimed millions of fraudulent votes—particularly by undocumented immigrants—cost him the popular vote. No evidence established anything remotely approaching that number.
5. “The crowd at my inauguration was the largest ever.”
Photographic comparisons and transit data showed that the 2017 inauguration crowd was substantially smaller than Barack Obama’s 2009 crowd.
6. “I was wiretapped by Obama.”
Trump asserted that Barack Obama had ordered surveillance of Trump Tower. No evidence established that Obama ordered such a wiretap.
7. “Thousands and thousands” of illegal immigrants voted in New Jersey.
Trump made this claim in July 2026. PolitiFact rated it Mostly False, finding no evidence for his assertion that thousands of undocumented immigrants had voted.
8. “They’re cheating on the election” because California was still counting ballots.
PolitiFact rated this Pants on Fire! Counting legally cast ballots after Election Day is normal election administration, not evidence of cheating.
9. “I’m the lowest of the last 10 presidents on inflation.”
Trump made this claim in 2026 using a misleading chart that compared different periods. At the comparable point in presidential terms, his inflation was actually higher than most of his recent predecessors.
10. “We inherited the worst inflation in the history of America.”
False. Inflation reached roughly 9% during Biden’s presidency, but the United States experienced substantially higher inflation in earlier periods, including the 1970s and early 1980s.
11. “The typical 401(k) is up almost $30,000” in 13 months.
PolitiFact rated the claim Mostly False; the increase in the typical account was substantially less than Trump suggested.
12. “People from prisons and mental institutions” were being sent into the United States from foreign countries.
There was no evidence that foreign governments were emptying prisons or psychiatric institutions and sending people to America. PolitiFact rated the claim Pants on Fire.
13. “The Iran nuclear threat was eliminated in one night.”
On October 1, 2026, Trump claimed that he had previously said it would take 4–6 weeks and that he eliminated the threat “in one night.” PolitiFact found that he had actually repeatedly described the war itself as potentially lasting four to six weeks and did not make the distinction he later claimed. It rated the statement False.
14. “Inflation is way down” because the monthly rate had fallen sharply.
Trump repeatedly used a one-month decline to suggest that overall inflation had dramatically fallen since he took office. FactCheck.org found the underlying statistic was real but that his characterization of what it meant was misleading.
15. “Crime dropped because of what my administration did.”
Trump presented the 2025 decline in crime as a dramatic reversal caused by his policies. FactCheck.org found the claim misleading and noted that crime had already been falling substantially before Trump returned to office.
16. “I have extreme intelligence” based on his cognitive test.
Trump described his test results as demonstrating “extreme intelligence.” PolitiFact rated that claim False: the cognitive screening test he took isn’t an IQ test and cannot establish “extreme intelligence.”
17. “Thousands of people” were voting illegally in various states.
Trump has repeatedly cited isolated cases of illegal voting as evidence of widespread voter fraud. Investigations have consistently found such cases to be extraordinarily rare and nowhere near the numbers he has claimed.
18. “I got NATO countries to pay billions more.”
Trump repeatedly described NATO allies as having been forced to pay the United States money. The reality is more complicated: NATO members increased defense spending, but they weren’t writing checks to the United States to repay a debt.
19. “Apple prices doubled” under Biden.
Trump used apples as an example of dramatic inflation, saying an apple had doubled in price. PolitiFact found that even at their peak, apple prices had not doubled from January 2021.
20. “Brazil’s quick election proves places such as Detroit, Philadelphia and California take weeks to rig elections.”
Trump made this claim on October 4, 2026. PolitiFact rated it Pants on Fire! The speed with which another country reports election results provides no evidence that American elections are being “rigged” during their counting process.
One important point about the pattern
The interesting thing isn’t just the individual claims. Trump has often repeated claims after they have been fact-checked and disproved. The 2020 election is the clearest example: the basic assertion that he actually won has remained a central claim despite the absence of evidence establishing that outcome. FactCheck.org documented the extensive falsehoods surrounding his January 6, 2021 speech.”
Pam,
[1] As you’ve been told before, if you want yet another ‘blog that does nothing but bash Trump, then you ought to create it yourself, rather than badgering Paul to retask his ‘blog.
[2] In invoking the alleged fact-checkers, such as FactCheck.org and PolitiFact, you are making arguments from authority. Now, while argumenta ex auctoritate have no place in assertoric logic, they are not fallacious in the logic of plausibility; but they depend, for their force, on the quality of the authority. And these alleged fact-checkers are unreliable authorities (as are the available LLMs).
To give you an example that you make you feel conflicted: President Obama claimed that more than 90% of guns recovered in Mexico were from US territory. FactCheck.org looked at just a sample, and a biased sample at that, and unequivocally declared Obama’s claim “not true”. In fact, the available statistics simply don’t tell us whether Obama’s claim was true. Obama’s claim was pulled out of the air, but it might happen to be right.
What the fact-checkers should have said about that claim, and about many of Obama’s other claims, and about many of Trump’s claims, is that they are “not proved”.
(And the fact-checkers shouldn’t have been any more silent about Obama’s demonstrably false claims and about Biden’s demonstrably false claims than they’ve been about Trump’s demonstrably false claims.)
Supercilious ass!
Pam, do you really want to show the audience that you have no better argument?
You continue to be a supercilious ass!
“A supercilious ass is an arrogant, snobbish, and patronizing jerk who acts as though they are better than everyone else.”
That definition describes YOU!
Pam, I return your attention to my points [1] and [2] in my first reply to you. Anyone, no matter how wrong, can shout insults. If you do not better address those points, then the audience will infer that you can not.
You’ve already squandered most of whatever opportunity you had to change minds, as each entry gets fewer readers as newer entries accumulate.