PoliticsJordan Klepper Finds 2024 Campaign Ad Inside a Taxpayer-Funded Trump Spot: 'It's the Same Exact Footage'
Jordan Klepper compared a taxpayer-funded government ad with Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign footage.
Oct. 3 2026, Published 8:24 a.m. ET
The White House insists a new federally funded commercial featuring President Donald Trump is not a campaign ad. Jordan Klepper found one complication: it uses footage from an actual Trump campaign ad.
The spots, which carry the disclaimer “paid for by the U.S. government,” have aired ahead of the November 3 midterm elections.
“The government shouldn’t be spending taxpayer dollars on campaign ads for President Trump,” Klepper said on the September 29 episode of The Daily Show. “It should be spending that money on figuring out how to put water in the reflecting pool.”
Same Footage, Different Disclaimer
The White House defended the commercial as a government message rather than a campaign ad.
Klepper compared one black-and-white government spot with a commercial from Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.
“This is literally a campaign ad they ran two years ago,” he said. “It’s the exact same footage.”
Jordan Klepper highlighted the identical footage used in the two advertisements.
The video shows Trump walking through a corridor while describing a “final battle” against enemies within the United States. Klepper also fixated on an extended view of a storage closet.
“Is that supposed to be a metaphor for where they’re going to lock up the deep state?” he asked. “Or is that like the closet Stephen Miller sleeps in during the day?”
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Donald Trump Is ‘Not Even on the Ballot’
Donald Trump urged supporters to treat the midterm election as if he were on the ballot.
The White House rejected the campaign-ad description because Trump is not on the midterm ballot and the commercial contains no call to action.
“It can’t be a campaign ad because Trump is not even on the ballot,” Klepper said. “It’s just, I feel like I heard someone say something different.”
The show then played Trump at a recent rally asking supporters to treat the election as though his name appeared alongside congressional candidates.
“So I’m asking you to pretend that I’m on the ballot,” Trump said. “I’m on the ballot. I’m on it.”
“He didn’t just say it,” Klepper responded. “He said it three times in a row. He’s trying to Beetlejuice himself onto the ballot.”
The Taxpayer-Funding Question
‘The Daily Show’ examined questions surrounding the use of taxpayer funds for the commercial.
Federal law prohibits using government funds for communications that are purely partisan or designed to benefit a political party or candidate. Critics have accused the commercials of violating that restriction, although the administration disputes their characterization.
“Spending taxpayer money on a campaign ad is clearly indefensible,” Klepper said. “So, let’s see how the White House ‘defensibles’ it.”
He closed by revisiting Trump’s recycled promise to “expel the warmongers” from government.
“That warmongers line hits different in 2026, doesn’t it?” Klepper joked. “Major ‘O.J. Simpson looking for the real killer’ vibes on that one.”
