CBS News aired Donald Trump’s new propaganda ad blitz while the network’s boss dined with the president at a state dinner.
A 30-second ad, which debuted this week on right-wing news outlets and was funded by taxpayers, has caused controversy. It features a portion of artist JMSN’s song “Love Me” with a chorus that goes “I’ll make them love me” over and over. It was set against a montage of the 80-year-old president.
Toward the end of the MAGA production, a disclaimer appears stating that it was “paid for by the U.S. government.”
A second, similar ad aired on CBS stations on Thursday. It retells the story of the capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and features Trump and other administration officials.
CBS News senior White House correspondent Weijia Jiang spoke of how the MAGA-coded network would play a “similar ad,” and noted that the original production was “drawing fire” over concerns about federal ethics rules prohibiting the use of government resources for campaigning.
Jiang was speaking on the network’s flagship evening news program, which was taking place as CBS News’s ultimate boss, David Ellison, prepared to dine with the president at the White House during a state dinner to honor Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
The irony is thick. Trump’s ad campaign moans about the threat of communism, just as he welcomes a communist dictator into the bowels of the U.S. government.
Also, Ellison, the CEO of Skydance Paramount, looks set to acquire CNN as part of the Warner Bros. Discovery merger. CNN was barred from covering the dinner as part of Trump’s tantrum at the press.
On Monday, Ellison reached an agreement with California Attorney General Rob Bonta after a fight about antitrust. This paves the way for the billionaire to complete his $111 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery.
However, a federal judge must approve the agreement.
Three Supreme Court justices were also at the dinner: Chief Justice John Roberts, whom George W. Bush appointed, and Justice Amy Coney Barrett and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, whom Trump appointed.
A White House spokesperson, meanwhile, tried to defend the ad as a public service announcement.
“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 spokesperson said on Thursday.
“The ad is educational and unapologetically patriotic. We should be proud of our country.”
However, R&B singer JMSN is peeved that his song was used. JMSN, whose real name is Christian Berishaj, accused Trump on Instagram of “illegally” using his track.
He argued that “this could have gone 2 ways.”
“1. The President or his team reach out and ask to license the song, I respond ‘no’ and you never know about it.
“2. The President illegally uses the song without asking but still the public goes full r----d and immediately assumes that a license was.”
“Obviously it went the second way,” the singer wrote.
JMSN, who was born to an Albanian father and grew up in Detroit, wrote, “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.”
The indie artist said he doesn’t have a publicist, “so being forced in a situation like this and having to comment is ridiculous,” before declaring, “I am looking at lawyers and handling this internally.”
Despite the White House’s claims, the release of the ad came against a clear political backdrop, after Trump told Republicans ahead of the November midterm elections to “pretend that I’m on the ballot.”
CBS News and the White House have been approached for comment.
