'Sheer desperation': White House stupefies with wild defense of 'potentially criminal ad'

A television ad airing on Fox News praising President Donald Trump is raising eyebrows after viewers noted it was “paid for by the U.S. government,” and raising eyebrows further was the White House’s response.

The 30-second TV spot shows dozens of photos of Trump set to the song “Love Me” by JMSN, and features audio of UFC President Dana White calling Trump the “toughest, most resilient person” he’d “ever met.” The ad also noted that it was paid for by the American taxpayer, drawing fire from Democrats, who questioned whether the TV spot broke the law.

Zeteo reached out to the White House for comment, and to the surprise of Zeteo’s Martin Pengelly, it received a response.

“[The ad is a] public service announcement… about reminding Americans to love their country and understand what makes it worth defending, at home, at our borders, and abroad,” an unnamed White House official told Zeteo. “The ad is educational and unapologetically patriotic. We should be proud of our country.”

According to Pengelly, the White House official also argued that the ad was “clearly not political” given that Trump was “not on the ballot and the ads don’t have a call to action.”

“Less than 40 days out from the midterms, the White House’s bizarre, potentially criminal ad — it was surely not a PSA — smelled of sheer desperation,” Pengelly wrote in a report published Friday by Zeteo.

JMSN, the artist whose song was featured in the ad, issued their own blistering response, claiming that Trump “illegally” used their work without permission.

“To anybody who has followed my career and knows what I stand for and built my career on, it should go without saying that I would never authorize my music to be used for ANY political agenda or campaign,” JMSN wrote in a social media post on X Thursday.

“I’ve built my career independently outside of any major system and have made it a point to not sacrifice my artistic integrity. I don’t have a publicist or anything so being forced in a situation like this and having to comment is ridiculous. I am looking at lawyers and handling this internally.”