U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., launched a blunt three-word broadside Monday at the White House’s latest taxpayer-funded Trump advertisement. The ad shows the president vowing a “final battle” against the “deep state.” The senator used a single post on X to tell Americans they are footing the bill for it, and he labeled the spot “propaganda,” “illegal” and “un-American.”
Hickenlooper posted the message at 9:26 a.m. on Sept. 28, 2026. The post read in full:
“Paid for by the U.S. Government = Paid for by YOU.
This is propaganda. This is illegal. This is un-American.”
The Ad Behind the Post
Hickenlooper was responding to a Washington Post report published Sept. 27. The Post reported that the White House has expanded a series of taxpayer-funded advertisements boosting President Donald Trump, including a new spot that repurposes imagery and political rhetoric Trump used while campaigning for president. Democratic members of Congress and former ethics officials say the ads are political and therefore a potential violation of federal law, even though the White House calls them public service announcements.
The 30-second spot is titled “Final Battle.” It is a black-and-white video of Trump walking down a hall, over audio of his warnings against “the deep state,” “warmongers,” “globalists,” “Marxists,” “communists,” and “fascists.” Trump says in the ad that “this is the final battle.”
A 2024 Campaign Video, Repurposed
NBC News reported that the ad is nearly identical to one Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign released, which Trump posted to Truth Social in January 2024. The campaign version runs about six seconds longer and ends with Trump’s campaign logo and a number to text. The taxpayer-funded version instead carries a “Paid for by the US Government” line across the screen.
The audio also echoes comments Trump made during a Veterans Day speech in 2023, according to CNN. That line-for-line overlap with campaign material is central to critics’ argument that the spot is political rather than informational.
Airing During NFL Games
The ad aired Sunday during Fox’s broadcasts of the Washington Commanders-Seattle Seahawks game and the Carolina Panthers-Cleveland Browns game. It ran in front of some of the largest live audiences on American television, just over a month before the November midterm elections.
The Third Ad in a Series
“Final Battle” is the third government-funded spot in a matter of days. The media tracker AdImpact captured all three. Last week, the White House ran an ad in which Trump described how he wanted to “defeat communism,” set to the song “Love Me” by JMSN. A second ad shows Trump at Mount Rushmore, with his voice saying that “never before has any nation celebrated so magnificent a triumph as this one.”
The watchdog group Common Cause said the earlier ad could violate rules against using taxpayer dollars for “propaganda.” Common Cause’s Carol Evans told CNN that no one needs to be a legal scholar to question why the president is using public money to promote his image so close to an election.
The White House Response
The administration rejects the criticism. A White House release Friday said the spots “are very clearly not campaign ads,” and argued that Trump is not on the ballot and the ads contain no call to action. A spokesperson told AFP that the latest spot is “educational and unapologetically patriotic.”
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung defended the ads Sunday on social media, telling followers not to let the “Fake News” get away with its lies about the “epic Public Service Announcements.” The White House has compared the ads to public service announcements about Medicare, Obamacare and Covid-19 vaccination under previous administrations.
The Legal Question
The dispute turns on a decades-old spending restriction. Since the 1950s, annual funding bills, including the appropriations measure the president recently signed, have routinely banned the use of taxpayer funds for “publicity or propaganda.” The Government Accountability Office has interpreted the ban to cover material that is “purely partisan,” “self-aggrandizing,” or “covert,” while noting that administrations may need to advocate or defend their policies.
The GAO has criticized past administrations’ ad campaigns. It faulted President George W. Bush’s for not properly disclosing the government as the source, and it found President Barack Obama’s violated the “publicity or propaganda and anti-lobbying provisions.” Some lawmakers have also pointed to the Hatch Act. The president is exempt from that law, but some argue White House employees who facilitated the ads are not.
A Growing Chorus of Critics
Hickenlooper is among several Democrats who have spoken out. The top Democrats on the House and Senate Appropriations committees wrote to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, calling the spots the kind of “government propaganda one might expect in North Korea.” Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire demanded answers on the production cost, contractors and source of funds. She wrote that the “Love Me” ad “does not have a clear official government purpose.” Sen. Andy Kim of New Jersey asked on social media how much taxpayer money was spent on the ad. Rep. Mike Levin, D-Calif., said, “It’s propaganda, and you’re paying the bill.”
Republican Objections, Legal Complaints
The criticism has not come only from Democrats. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that no public official should spend public money on private ads for themselves. Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican and a vocal Trump critic, also posted sarcastically about the “Final Battle” ad.
Legal and ethics groups are weighing in as well. Margaret Dylus-Yukins of the Campaign Legal Center said the ads almost entirely revolve around Trump, who is not a candidate but has told voters to act as if he is on the ballot in November. Trump used the phrase “pretend that I’m on the ballot” at his “midterm convention” in Texas. Public Citizen has filed a complaint with the GAO and the Office of Special Counsel seeking an investigation.
Hickenlooper’s Message Compared With His Earlier Criticism
Monday’s post fits a pattern in Hickenlooper’s public statements about Trump. On Sept. 16, he took to the Senate floor to call out the president for corruption and the cost-of-living emergency. “Golden – for who? For billionaires,” he said of Trump’s description of his second term as a “Golden Age.” He also said the president was personally profiting off the Iran war.
His office’s press releases lean on the same charges. A release cited a Joint Economic Committee Minority report finding Coloradans have spent $1.3 billion more on gas since the Iran war began, or $583 per family. Hickenlooper said in a video statement that Trump has a “vested interest” in prolonging the war.
Hickenlooper and the Iran War
Hickenlooper’s opposition to the Iran war predates the ad dispute. He introduced a War Powers Resolution to direct Trump to terminate U.S. military hostilities against Iran, and he has voted repeatedly to end the war. His office says the conflict has claimed the lives of 18 servicemembers. His office says he has voted to end the war eight times.
In a Senate floor speech ahead of one such vote, he detailed the war’s cost. He cited a Pentagon estimate of more than $43 billion spent and called it money wasted “for no discernible benefit.” The “Paid for by YOU” framing in his Monday post echoes that argument about who bears the cost.
On Defense Policy and the Pentagon
The senator has also criticized the administration’s defense leadership. After the Senate passed the fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act 75-22 in December 2025, Hickenlooper said “Illegally deploying troops to cities” and other actions showed that Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “continue to carry out their disastrous agenda domestically and abroad.” He also joined 45 Senate colleagues in demanding a full accounting of the Iran war’s costs. They criticized Defense Department leadership for withholding basic budget information from Congress and the public.
What Comes Next
The cost of the campaign is still emerging. The Associated Press, citing AdImpact estimates, reported that about $319,000 has been spent on the latest spot. Two other spots began running last week. The White House has not indicated it will pull any of the ads. The administration maintains they are not campaign material.
Hickenlooper’s post left no room for that distinction. In one line, he said money from the U.S. government is money from the American public. In three more, he called the ad propaganda, illegal and un-American.