On Oct. 24, the Trump Campaign announced they were going to broadcast live campaign coverage from then until the election on Nov. 8. The coined “Trump TV” strove to bypass the “left-wing media” that “spins” everything and deliver people the true, unadulterated and uncensored message they deserved.
The Trump Campaign tried to reach out to Donald Trump’s millions of Facebook and Twitter followers in a more direct way. They wanted to provide a message they saw as uncensored by the liberal media. It was a noble effort, but unfortunately they waded into baited waters.
Cliff Sims and Boris Epshteyn hosted the broadcast and spoke to three guests: Kellyanne Conway, the campaign manager; Sean Spicer, Chief Strategist and Communications Director of the Republican National Committee; and Tomi Lahren, the young blonde version of your extremely racist and irrationally angry grandfather.
Let’s set the scene. Imagine the mail room of your first office job. Feel the chaos. See the coffee stains. Smell the stale popcorn. Now, add a few tv screens on one wall and put three people at a table on the foreground. This was the set of the Trump TV campaign coverage.
The dialogue of these Trump supporters was everything you would expect. They used the phrase “Crooked Hillary Clinton” to excess, they accused her of paying people to dress as ducks and incite violence at a Trump rally and demonized the media for constantly “spinning” Trump’s actions.
The broadcast was interesting, to say the least.
Never before had Sen. Hillary Clinton been called a “boring candidate.” Perhaps she is boring because she was never on a reality TV show that exposed her as a sexual predator.
They also questioned where she made her money. At least we know she didn’t elude income tax and strategically bankrupt companies to add to the fortune she inherited from her father.
Somewhere in the middle of it, Epshteyn equated the Clinton Campaign to the mafia, which was fitting considering he spoke and acted like Don Vito Corleone.
Simons and Epshteyn also used Project Veritas as a source, a news medium that puts out videos using hidden-camera footage to expose corruption of different establishments. To provide some incite, Project Veritas recently put out a video that mocked college students with mental health issues.
To top off what was essentially a discussion about the conspiracy against Trump, they included a small segment with Tomi Lahren, someone who trivialized the court case that would allow transgender people to use the bathroom of their preferred gender. She said it was a “slippery slope” and “the thing in your pants really isn’t up for negotiation.”
She then proceeded to misgender Caitlyn Jenner and said it was reasonable for people to want to “not get raped in the bathroom.” To watch the video you can go here.
Trump TV’s campaign coverage had the same purpose as any media outlet: get the true story out to the people. Although their efforts were noble at heart, they failed when they used circumstantial evidence, outwardly made fun of the Democratic nominee, spoke to a bigoted source and openly supported a media outlet that uses hidden cameras to create a mockery of journalism.
But, honestly, what did we expect?
Featured Photo Credit: Feature photo courtesy of Gage Skidmore on Flickr.
Monica Pizzo is a freshman journalism major and can be reached at mpizzo@terpmail.umd.edu.
