Donald Trump was forced to pull his first ad for his 2020 reelection because it violated a ban on active duty military members participating in political advocacy while wearing their uniform.
The Washington Post reported, “The initial version of the ad released by the campaign included a shot of Trump shaking hands at his Mar-a-Lago estate with H.R. McMaster, his national security adviser. An updated version dropped the shot of McMaster, who remains an active duty member of the Army, and replaced it with Trump visiting a business.”
An active duty member is banned from engaging in political advocacy while wearing their uniform.
As campaign law expert Larry Noble noted:
Use of LTG McMaster in Trump campaign ad seems to violate intent of military policy against members engaging in partisan political activity. https://t.co/qVs63CBJSm
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— Larry Noble (@LarryNoble_DC) May 1, 2017
Trump filed for reelection on Inauguration Day. The White House appears to be completely clueless about governing, so they have been in perpetual campaign mode, but as the sloppiness of their first ad indicates, they aren’t very good at that either.
The Trump administration does not pay attention to detail, which is why things like having to pull your first campaign ad and re-edit it happen to them. Trump can’t even launch a campaign ad without violating rules and laws.
The White House is being run by a team of corrupt incompetents who don’t care about details, laws, and rules.
No matter what Trump touches, the one consistent result is failure.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
