Last night, via Facebook Live, the Trump campaign launched what some are calling a nightly news show that will broadcast on Trump’s Facebook page every night, presumably for the duration of the campaign.
Some news outlets are calling this a test run for the post-election Trump TV, which probably has merit despite the fact that Trump denies having any interest in such an endeavor.
Most of the people who inhabit what we like to call “the real world” understand that the odds of Trump being elected president are incredibly low, so it’s natural for us to view this with a point of view that says ‘well, this is what comes next for Donald.’ I’m not so sure Donald Trump inhabits the real world, so I ask this: what if this is a harbinger of more than just Trump’s plans for after he loses? What if this is his plan for altering the news media landscape after he wins?
It’s no secret Donald Trump like authoritarians. In fact, as Ezra Klein noted back in July:
It’s not just that Trump admires these authoritarians; it’s that the thing he admires about them is their authoritarianism — their ability to dispense with niceties like a free press, due process, and political opposition.
Starting a State News agency like they have in North Korea or Russia would certainly be in line with Trump’s stated desire to emulate what he seems to honestly believe is the ‘strong leadership’ qualities of authoritarian dictatorships.
This is how The Guardian described the broadcast:
A visible effort was made to mimic the look and feel of cable news, down to the hypnotic scroll of propaganda and stretched truths: the Las Vegas Review-Journal has endorsed Donald Trump! Don’t worry that the paper is owned by one of Trump’s biggest donors and that this is his only major newspaper endorsement!
...The actual program involved Epshteyn and Sims sitting at a table inside Trump’s campaign office, trading catchphrases and conspiracy theories – the liberal media is hiding the truth, drain the swamp, Twitter is an accurate accounting of the American electorate, Hillary sent people dressed as ducks to incite violence at Trump rallies – until the loose segments peter out and are replaced by clips of the orange candidate popping a blood vessel over Obamacare.
To me, that could easily describe the beginnings of a Trump administration state news agency.
Maybe the broadcast really is nothing more than an ephemeral attempt at propaganda that will end on election day. Maybe the broadcast is simply a test run for Trump TV when Trump, whose presidential bid has caused his brand to suffer dearly, finally loses the election and has to move on to another scheme. I hope that’s the case.
But if Team Trump really still think they have a shot at winning, the idea of this propaganda machine that Trump is now starting up takes on an entirely different meaning It is, as Hillary may say, horrifying.