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This week, I dug into the digital ad wars surrounding Trump’s big, beautiful mess. From big-money conservatives flooding our screens to progressive groups trying to fight back, the data offers a snapshot of the playbooks both sides are running in our new MAGA era. We’ll explore the highlights of who spent what, what the ads said, and what this tells us about our current political moment.

More below, but first…

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Digital ad spending, by the numbers:

FWIW, U.S. political advertisers spent about $10.1 million on Facebook and Instagram ads last week. Here were the top ten spenders nationwide:

More Perfect Union Foundation made an appearance in the top Meta ads chart this past week. The calls to action in their ads are a combination of fundraising and building their readership. And relatedly… they just won their first Emmy!

Meanwhile, political advertisers spent just over $2.1 million on Google and YouTube ads last week. These were the top ten spenders nationwide:

I went down a lot of rabbit holes researching this newsletter, and none was more fun than learning about former CEO of Microsoft Steve Ballmer's organization, USA Facts. From June 1 to July 4, they spent over $320,000 directing people to “just the facts” videos like this one about taxes. Give it a watch, and let us know if you think Ballmer is meeting the moment.

On X (formerly Twitter), political advertisers in the U.S. have spent around $5.1 million on ads in 2025. According to X’s political ad disclosure, here are the top spenders year to date:

@Built4America cracked the top 10 this week with ads centered around encouraging Congress to “protect the energy tax credits powering U.S. manufacturing, creating jobs, and helping America beat China.” The ad creative features shiny imagery of Trump and ties (clean) energy tax credits to the MAGA agenda.

…and lastly, on Snapchat, political advertisers in the U.S. have spent around $737,910 on ads in 2025. Here are the top spenders year to date:

Tired of burning money with Care2 or Meta ads?

It’s 2025, and groups like Common Cause, Earthjustice, and Amnesty International are leaning on Civic Shout to acquire ROI-positive donors and activists. See how you can, too.

Inside the Paid Ad Blitz Behind Trump’s Big Billionaire Bill

On July 4th, President Trump signed into law his “One Big Beautiful Bill” (OBBB). In order to make his 2017 tax giveaway to the wealthiest Americans permanent (alongside other goodies for his wealthy backers), the bill is projected to:

1. Take healthcare away from 17 million people

2. Cut food assistance for 22 million families

3. Jeopardize rural hospitals by cutting $155 billion over a decade

4. Balloon ICE’s budget to $100 billion by 2029

5. Add nearly $3 trillion to the national debt by 2034.

Like many, I've been asking myself how this thing passed. And so I decided to explore the paid advertising during the most frenzied period over the bill (6/1 – 7/4).

When diving in, the first thing I noticed on the Right was how much money the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity (AFP) dropped. Between June 1st and July 4th, they spent $2.44M on Google and YouTube, and over $900,000 on Meta. On Google, they were spending around $78,000 per day. SHEESH. That made them the largest political spender during this period by far.

Their ads featured testimonial-style videos from small business owners and everyday Americans advocating to avoid “the largest tax hike in American history”. My favorite and the funniest of the ads was of a grandmother whose voiceover sounds so fake that I debated whether it was AI. Shout out to you, Nancy 🤖.

On the Left, the funding levels were not as strong. Some of the biggest spenders with persuasion ads against the bill included Protect Our Jobs, Majority Forward Fund, Save My Country Action Fund, and Unrig Our Economy. They ran ads targeting specific lawmakers in their states with a mix of video formats. Some were standard voice-over-led pronouncements about the bill, while others were simpler personality-led social-first testimonials about the bill’s downsides.

Ultimately, the $1.8 million that these 4 groups spent on Google & Meta was around half of the nearly $3.5 million that Americans for Prosperity spent.

During this same period, the Progressive Turnout Project spent over $800k on Meta ads directing audiences to sign petitions and donate. This amount was more than any of the individual progressive groups I mentioned earlier. This is a pretty poignant reminder of how much political advertising focuses on fundraising instead of persuasion to try to stop bad things from happening.

It bears noting that, despite the amount of money spent by groups on the Right and Left on ads about OBBB, none of them were the top-viewed political ads over that key period. On Google, that designation belonged to right-wing ads from the conservative groups Judicial Watch and Turning Point USA that entirely ignored the entire OBBB debate. Here’s a peek at one of those top-viewed ads...

So, what does this all say about our current moment? On the Right, it feels like the Americans for Prosperity and Turning Point balance perfectly summarizes where their movement is. On the outside, their most visible message centers around culture-war fights. On the inside, their machine looks for every possible way to empower the wealthiest Americans.

On the Left, some of the movement is fighting back, but with far fewer resources than the Right. Another portion is focused on using this moment of crisis to bring in cash (something we’ve seen quite a bit from Democrats during MAGA 2.0).

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Tired of burning money with Care2 or Meta ads?

It’s 2025, and groups like Common Cause, Earthjustice, and Amnesty International are leaning on Civic Shout to acquire ROI-positive donors and activists. See how you can, too.

More from around the internet:

• This upcoming Tuesday, Arizonans will head to the polls in the deep-blue 7th Congressional district because, against the odds, a primary battle has been brewing. Voters are deciding who will replace the late Raúl Grijalva: his daughter, former County Boardmember Adelita Grijalva, or influencer + activist Deja Foxx, who has been surging, especially after being endorsed by David Hogg’s PAC. For more, check out this video series from COURIER about Foxx.

• If you haven't heard, the MAGAverse is very upset that Jeffrey Epstein’s death was ruled a suicide. The announcement was rich coming from Kash Patel and Dan Bongino, both of whom aggressively insisted that the Biden administration covered up details in the case. See: I never thought the leopard would eat my face.

• People have been discussing whether DOGE cuts impacted the devastating flood that killed over a hundred in Texas. Secretary Noem may have even delayed relief efforts with a new rule insisting that she personally greenlight all costs over $100k.

• Finally X’s AI Grok called itself “MechaHitler” earlier this week, so that’s fun…

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