纳税人正在为总统制作一则竞选风格的广告。这则竞选风格的广告以特朗普总统的颗粒感视频画面开场，随后镜头拉近，清晰展现他沐浴在红光中的侧脸，他的声音承诺道：“我们将共同击败美国境内的共产主义、社会主义和马克思主义。”接着，屏幕上以频闪方式快速闪过总统的图像。短暂停顿后，又出现十几个特朗普的身影。这一模式重复数次。广告中穿插了他部分优先事项的推广内容，例如减税和捍卫警察，但有一条信息在30秒的广告中占据了整整一半的时长：美国永远不会成为一个共产主义国家。
Trump’s Public Service Announcement: ‘Love Me’ Taxpayers are funding a campaign-style ad for the president. The campaign-style ad starts with grainy video footage of President Trump, followed by a clearer look at his red-bathed profile, as his voice promises: “Together, we will defeat communism, socialism, and Marxism in America.” Then comes a strobe-style rapid display of images of the president. A pause. Then a dozen more Trumps. The pattern repeats several times. There are plugs for some of his priorities—such as cutting taxes and defending police officers—but one message stays on the screen for fully half of the 30-second commercial: AmericA will never be a communist country.
整个过程中，背景播放着一首节奏布鲁斯歌曲，假声反复吟唱着：“爱我……爱我……爱我……”结尾处出现字幕：“由美国政府出资制作。”
Throughout, an R&B song plays in the background, with falsetto voices singing, over and over: “Love me … Love me … Love me …” At the end comes this: “Paid for by the U.S. Government.”
如果动用纳税人的资金显得不合常理——确实如此——那么白宫给我的解释则更加离奇。没有人愿意公开表态，但一位白宫发言人告诉我，这则本周开始播出的新广告是一则公益广告，具有“教育意义，且毫不掩饰地充满爱国情怀”。另一位白宫官员告诉我，这则广告“显然不具有政治性”，这一说法似乎旨在提供法律上的掩护。我还收到了一份据称来自往届总统的类似公益广告清单：乔治·W·布什曾动用联邦资金，呼吁美国青年远离毒品；乔·拜登曾发起运动，鼓励公众接种新冠疫苗；富兰克林·D·罗斯福曾制作广播节目和海报，支持第二次世界大战。如今，特朗普也有了自己的某种形式的公告：“爱我……爱我……爱我……”白宫发言人在一份声明中告诉我：“这些公益广告旨在提醒美国人热爱自己的国家，理解是什么让国家值得捍卫——无论是在国内、边境还是海外。”
If the use of taxpayer dollars seems odd—and it should—the explanation that the White House gave me is even more bizarre. No one would speak on the record, but a White House spokesperson told me that the new ad, which began airing this week, is a public service announcement that is “educational and unapologetically patriotic.” A second White House official told me that the ad is “clearly not political,” an assertion that appears intended to provide legal cover. I also received a list of supposedly comparable PSAs from past presidents: George W. Bush spent federal dollars urging the youth of America not to do drugs. Joe Biden had a campaign to encourage the public to get their COVID vaccines. Franklin D. Roosevelt produced radio programs and posters supporting World War II. And now Trump has his own announcement of sorts: “Love me … Love me … Love me …” “These public service announcements are about reminding Americans to love their country and understand what makes it worth defending, at home, at our borders, and abroad,” the White House spokesperson told me in a statement.
白宫没有回答我的其他问题，包括这些“公益广告”花了多少钱、用哪个政府账户来资助它们，以及是谁制作了这则广告。目前尚不清楚政府在这些广告上花了多少钱、在多少地方投放，但一位与我交谈过的广告追踪人士告诉我，这则广告正在几个主要市场播出。追踪政治广告的这些细节要容易得多，因为竞选团队和其他团体必须向联邦通信委员会提交报告。这则“爱我”广告昨晚在福克斯新闻的《杰西·沃特斯黄金时段》节目中播出，也曾在Newsmax上出现过。
The White House would not answer my other questions, including about how much money is being spent on these “public service announcements,” which government account is being used to fund them, and who produced the spot. It is unclear how much money the government has spent on these ads and in how many places, but one advertising tracker I spoke with told me that the ad is airing in several major markets. It’s much easier to track such details for political ads, because campaigns and other groups are required to file reports with the Federal Communications Commission. The “Love Me” spot aired last night during Jesse Watters Primetime on Fox News, and it has also been seen on Newsmax.
广告用大号红色字母闪现文字，列出特朗普所谓的成就：史上最大规模减税、重振美国制造业，以及捍卫法律与秩序和警察。结尾时，终极格斗冠军赛主席达纳·怀特的声音响起，画面中军用飞机从头顶飞过。“他是我见过的最坚强、最有韧性的人，没有什么能阻止他为他所爱的国家如此拼命奋斗，”怀特说。这则广告的一个较短版本近两周前出现在白宫的官方YouTube页面上。
The ad flashes text in big red letters spelling out Trump’s alleged accomplishments: Largest tax cuts in history, reigniting AmericaN manufacturing, and defend law and order and police. At the end, the voice of Dana White, the president of Ultimate Fighting Championship, comes on as images of military planes fly overhead. “He is the toughest, most resilient person that I’ve ever met, and nothing is going to stop him from fighting so hard for the country that he loves,” White says. A shorter version of the ad appeared on the White House’s official YouTube page nearly two weeks ago.
北卡罗来纳州共和党参议员汤姆·蒂利斯将这则广告比作某个极右翼匈牙利前总理会尝试的做法。“他们并不是需要靠GoFundMe页面来筹钱做那种广告，他们完全做得到，”他对记者说。“但用纳税人的钱，感觉就像欧尔班·维克托。”马里兰州众议员、众议院司法委员会民主党首席成员杰米·拉斯金表示，这则广告似乎违反了联邦法律。“根据多项禁止将政府资源用于政治竞选的联邦道德条款，这公然不道德，”他在社交媒体上写道。
Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a Republican, compared the ad to something that a certain far-right former Hungarian prime minister would attempt. “It’s not like they need a GoFundMe page to have the dollars to do that sort of ad, and they could do it,” he told reporters. “But using taxpayer dollars, it feels like Viktor Orbán.” Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said that the ad appears to violate federal law. “It is blatantly unethical under numerous federal ethics provisions proscribing the use of government resources for political campaigns,” he wrote on social media.
新罕布什尔州参议员玛吉·哈桑（Maggie Hassan）即将成为一个关键监督委员会的民主党领袖。她今天致信白宫办公厅主任苏西·怀尔斯（Susie Wiles），就该广告的成本、资金来源及法律依据提出了详细质询。她在信中写道：“该广告没有明确的官方政府目的，且似乎违反了联邦关于禁止使用拨款资金的规定。”民主党高层拨款委员会成员也致信要求立即撤下该广告：“这种政府宣传手段人们或许会在朝鲜见到，而不是在美国。”华盛顿监督组织“华盛顿公民责任与道德”（Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington）主席唐纳德·谢尔曼（Donald Sherman）对我表示，这“确实很奇怪”，是他从未见过的情况。他说：“它似乎刻意表现得像宣传工具，而不是某种更具实质性的内容。”
Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, who is poised to become the top Democrat on a key oversight committee, sent a letter today to Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, with detailed questions about the cost, source of funds, and legal basis for the spot. “The does not have a clear official government purpose and appears to run afoul of federal prohibitions against the use of appropriated funds,” she wrote. Top Democratic appropriators also wrote to demand that the ad be taken down immediately: “This is the sort of government propaganda one might expect in North Korea, not the United States of America.” Donald Sherman, the president of the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told me that it’s “certainly odd” and unlike anything he has seen before. “It goes out of its way, it seems, to look and feel like propaganda as opposed to something more substantive,” he said.
谢尔曼表示，该广告可能并未违反《哈奇法案》（Hatch Act），该法案限制行政部门员工的政治活动，但总统不在其列。谢尔曼认为，它更有可能违反了联邦拨款法，该法律限制联邦机构将纳税人的钱用于“宣传或鼓吹”。任何执法行动都将来自美国政府问责局（GAO），而该机构通常应目前由共和党控制的国会委员会的要求采取行动。政府问责局的一位发言人在今天傍晚对我表示，该办公室尚未收到任何关于此事的裁决请求。
Sherman said that the ad likely does not violate the Hatch Act, which limits political activities for executive-branch employees but exempts the president. It more likely breaches federal appropriations laws, Sherman said, that restrict federal agencies from using taxpayer money for “publicity or propaganda.” Any enforcement would come from the Government Accountability Office, which operates at the request of congressional committees that are presently controlled by Republicans. A GAO spokesperson told me late this afternoon that the office had not received any requests for decisions on the matter.
“这才是症结所在！”谢尔曼说。“这个视频旨在让现任国会多数派受益，而现任国会多数派一再拒绝遏制现任总统的腐败和行为。我可不指望他们会对此采取任何行动。”
“That’s the rub!” Sherman said. “This video is directed at benefiting the current majority in Congress, and the current majority in Congress has repeatedly refrained from reining in the current president’s corruption and behavior. I’m not holding my breath for them to do anything about it.”
虽然我从白宫得到的回复寥寥无几，但我确实收到了来自JMSN（读作Jameson）的回复，他是这则广告中所用歌曲的创作者，是一位阿尔巴尼亚裔美国艺术家。他在一份电子邮件声明中告诉我，他并未授权使用他的音乐，而他的音乐已成为社交媒体上用户拼接自己照片时的热门配乐。“我现在正在找律师，看看我们有什么选择以及如何推进，”他说。“我以前从未遇到过这种情况，所以需要帮助来应对这种棘手的局面。”
Although I received few answers from the White House, I did receive some from JMSN, pronounced Jameson, the Albanian American artist behind the song used in the ad. He told me in an emailed statement that he had not authorized the use of his music, which has become a popular soundtrack on social media for users editing together their own photos. “I am looking for a lawyer now in order to see what our options are and how to proceed,” he said. “I have never been in this situation before, so need help in navigating something of this magnitude.”