Trump TV

About

Trump TV refers to a Trump-branded video in which an anchor reports on the president's supposed accomplishments. Online, many have commented on the factual accuracy of the videos as well as the implications of a president-run news report.

History

On July 30th, 2017, President Trump shared a video on his official Facebook^[1] featuring his daughter-in-law Laura Trump reading what she refers to as "the real news" on Trump's accomplishments in office, a reference to his opposition to the mainstream media, which he refers to as fake news. The video (shown below) received more than 2.3 million views, 49,000 reactions and 16,900 shares in one week.

The following week, on August 5th, former CNN commentator Kayleigh McEnany, who spent time on CNN as a Trump surrogate during the 2016 presidential election, tweeted^[2] "While I have enjoyed my time at CNN, I will be moving to a new role. Stay tuned next week!"The tweet (shown below) received more than 1,100 retweets and 5,100 likes in two days.

On August 6th, the Twitter^[3] account @TeamTrump shared the next installment of "the real news," which featured McEnany as the anchor. In this episode, she reports on Trump's recent jobs report. They caption the tweet "Join @kayleighmcenany​ as she provides you the news of the week from Trump Tower in New York! #MAGA #TeamTrump." The video (shown below) received more than 3,700 retweets and 8,400 likes. When shared on Facebook^[5], the video received more than 1.2 million views, 8,700 shares and 36,000 reactions in 24 hours.

That morning, Twitter^[11] user @yashar shared the video on Twitter, where it received more than 5,600 retweets and 9,500 likes.

Reception

Following the release of the initial video, CNN^[4] reported that Trump had launched a "real news" video series. They claim that the series is uncommon for U.S. presidents, writing:

Presidents and lawmakers have used websites and social media platforms for years to promote their achievements, but the "real news" series goes further, seeking to discredit the mainstream media and advertising what purports to be a reliable alternative.

The second video, which featured McEnany received a significant amount of attention online. Variety^[6] reported that McEnany left CNN to join the Trump reports network.

The day the video released, Twitter^[7] user @AprilF815 retweeted the video with the caption "Beautiful and brave lady helping to #MAGA." The post (shown below) received more than 200 retweets and 780 likes.

On the /r/The_Donald subreddit, Redditor^[10] LASvegaspirate posted McEnany's tweets and wrote "BASED HOTTIE left FNN and has joined Trump news network to provide factual and accurate news to real Americans everywhere !!!!" The post received more than 1,500 points (97% upvoted) and 20 comments.

Others online questioned some of the propagandistic features of the the video. Twitter^[8] user @AJ_Ski_Bum tweeted, "She's reporting from Trump Tower, his name is advertised behind her & she states it's "real news." This is 100% propaganda of his making." The (shown below, left) received more than 8,000 retweets and 19,000 likes in less than 24 hours.

Another tweet by user @JohnJHarwood^[9] said, "McEnany on Trump Tower TV says 'President Trump has created 1-M jobs' not 'US economy has created 1-M jobs' ridiculous. mindless. sad!" The tweet (shown below, right) received more than 1,100 retweets and 4,200 likes in 24 hours.

Several news outlets covered the videos, including Vogue,^[13] Esquire,^[14] AOL,^[15] TIME^[16] and more. Twitter^[12] published a Moments page about the video and reaction to it.

On August 7th, the Washington Post^[17] analyzed the claims made in the episode. The article points to Trump TV's claim that the president "has created more than 1 million jobs" and "has clearly steered the economy back in the right direction." While the jobs report its highest since 2001, the article points out that these are trends that started during the Obama administration, Trump's predecessor.

"What we've seen looks more like a continuation of a strong trend that Trump inherited from Obama, rather than Trump steering 'the economy back in the right direction.' Things were already headed in the right direction, in fact, so Trump didn't need to steer anything. He needed to keep it on course."

Additionally, the article states that Trump's claims that he alone created 1 million jobs, rather than the economy created 1 million jobs and that immigration depresses wages are both debatable.

Media scholar Tom Rosenstiel compared^[18] the use of a state-run news program to George Owell's 1949 dystopian novel 1984. He said:

"Sure, and the adoption of phrases like 'fake news' and 'real news' is alarming, especially coming from the president. This is Orwellian, and it’s happening right now, right here."

Search Interest

External References