The Whole Defense of $20 Million in Border Money Was "I'm Not Running for Office." Two Days Later: "We Want to Pretend I'm Running."

Thirteen ads, fifteen seconds to three minutes, ending with "Paid for by the U.S. Government." One is called "God Made Trump" and runs the Paul Harvey farmer cadence over the President. OMB moved $20 million to Customs and Border Protection for "OBBB Commemorative Events" on September 19; the LMD contract was awarded September 20; the Washington Post traced the money to accounts Congress wrote for border security upgrades, counter-narcotics, and memorials for officers killed in the line of duty. AdImpact had it past $10 million by October 5. Thune: "It's a great message. I like the message. But it shouldn't be paid for with taxpayer dollars." Kennedy: no official "should spend public money on private ads for themselves." Tillis: "I hate it." And Susan Collins, chair of Appropriations, explaining the actual mechanism: the appropriations bill has a restriction that would have barred this, "that's why the administration went around the appropriations process and used an account that was part of the reconciliation bill." That ran as a reaction quote. It is a reusable procedure described by the person who writes the bill. The story closed on October 5 when he said MAGA Inc. would pay — a super PAC that started September with $415 million. But the check is not the question. The money was obligated in September, and the defense of obligating it was one sentence, said in the Oval Office on September 30: he is not running, so these cannot be campaign ads. On October 2 he said his party should campaign as though he is on the ballot and that he is worth "44 per cent more." Entry #66 recorded that line four days ago. Both statements are voluntary, both on camera, forty-eight hours apart, and the one he threw away is the one the spending stands on.