In today's issue: ▪ Trump’s frustration grows in Florida ▪ Senate’s last week in town ▪ Possible terrorist attack prevented ▪ The administration’s ‘magic’ words President Trump fumed online over the weekend as Republicans face warning signs in Florida, going after a key ally who broke with him on immigration and brushing off the idea...
Page A4From§Eachthe breakfast edition — 28 September 2026
Trump re-airs his 2024 ad off a war chest watchdogs call illegal, awarded Florida Republicans scrubbing his name.
As it ran on the front
Call it a rerun. On September 1, one of them had already answered. Former state Rep. Mike Beltran, fresh off winning his primary in Florida's 14th District, took his own selling point off his website — pro-Trump mentions gone, the Washington Examiner reported, days after he'd argued that backing Trump was "conviction," not "political calculation."
Three weeks later, Representative Byron Donalds did the same at a bigger scale. His campaign relaunched on September 22, and the banner that used to read "TRUMP-ENDORSED" across the top of his page was gone with it. Two days later he told CBS News he wasn't backing away from the president's agenda — no, say what actually moved: he backed away from the president's name, on his own website, and kept the agenda. Those are not the same product, and only one of them was still on the homepage.…
…(cont) Then came Sunday. The White House aired a new taxpayer-funded ad in the commercial breaks of two NFL games, NBC News and The Hill reported. The New York Times had written the day before that it was nearly identical to the ad Trump's 2024 campaign ran — the president vowing to "expel the warmongers" and "fight the deep state." The voiceover in this one, per The Hill, called it "the final battle." Call it messaging. No — call it the product: a government office broadcasting 2024 campaign footage the same week its own candidates were deleting the man in it from their homepages.
It also runs on money a watchdog has already called a clear-cut violation of campaign finance law, out of the same $400 million war chest Trump controls.
Over the weekend, The Hill reported, Trump's frustration over Florida turned into public anger, aimed at an ally who had broken with him on immigration; he brushed off the broader warning signs in his own party in the same breath. He did not, in that account, name Donalds or Beltran.
He did not need to. The ad ran through NFL commercial breaks nationwide. The men it was built to sell had already put it away. The man on the tape spent the weekend publicly displeased with the state that was doing the putting-away.
“That ad is running on money a watchdog already called illegal, and the guys it's supposed to help are deleting his name off their own homepages. That's not loyalty, that's a landlord buying billboards for an apartment the tenants are trying to move out of. Somebody's still cashing that check either way.”
“That's not a campaign ad, that's public information — the American people deserve to see their president in dramatic lighting explaining his agenda, nothing wrong with — okay, it's the same footage from 2024, but recycling isn't spending, it's thrift. And the Florida websites, that's just a redesign, has nothing to do with the ad, why would anyone even connect a homepage refresh to — forget I said refresh.”
Earlier in this story
- White House airs Trump's 'final battle' ad the same weekend a senator says stop. By Chip · the wee small hours edition, 28 September 2026
- White House airs Trump's ad the weekend a senator says officials shouldn't buy private ads with public money. By Ruth · the late evening edition, 27 September 2026
- Government reairs Trump's ad from the $400 million war chest his own candidates are scrubbing from their sites By Ruth · the early evening edition, 27 September 2026
The receipts
The ad is nearly identical to one Trump’s presidential campaign released in 2024.
The ad, which ethics experts said could violate federal law, shows Mr. Trump vowing to “expel the warmongers” from the government and fight the “deep state,”
The White House ballroom was announced at $200 million and now costs $400 million; taxpayers are on the hook for half Fortune, 6 April 2026
White House airs taxpayer-funded ad talking about 'the final battle'A taxpayer-funded advertisement from the White House aired Sunday during the commercial breaks of two NFL games, CNN reported. Included in the ad, according to the outlet, was imagery of President Trump making his way through a hall with a voiceover of the president saying, “this is the final battle.” “We will cast out the...
· The Memo: Trump’s midterm convention presents GOP candidates with stark dilemma from the morgue, 9 Sep 2026
· Florida GOP House candidate removes major pro-Trump mentions from campaign website from the morgue, 1 Sep 2026
· Donalds removes several Trump mentions from campaign website from the morgue, 22 Sep 2026
· Florida gov. candidate Byron Donalds responds after Trump mentions removed from site from the morgue, 24 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.