President Donald Trump 's attempt at a state-run streaming channel launched on September 21 and immediately struggled to get viewers.
" Trump TV ," a YouTube station devoted to playing a 24/7 stream of Trump speeches and appearances, did not debut with a bang, as it barely maintained between 1,000 and 2,000 viewers at a time in its first 12 hours.
Trump TV Limps Through Its Launch
Trump TV debuted at 7 p.m. ET on September 21 with 8,000 viewers. However, as a consequence of being on YouTube, viewers could track in real time just how few people were plugged into the Trump deluge.
That's relatively decent for a YouTube live channel. For comparison, CNN's live YouTube channel pulled in 1,200 viewers at the same time, supplementing its television audience. Still, Trump TV's 2,200 viewers were well below some powerhouse channels on the platform, such as the 24/7 Bluey channel , which was netting 17,000 concurrent viewers at the time.
Additionally, Trump was mocked online.
“First, Trump banned independent news from the White House. Now, he's launching what is quite literally state-run TV to try drowning out the fact that he and his corrupt administration are failing the American people,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom reacted in a post on X. “This is truly autocratic behavior from a failed President.”
“So, state-run media. Donald Trump is the communist,” said the Lincoln Project group.
“Days ago, Trump banned CNN, MSNOW and many others from the White House,” said liberal commentator Dean Withers . “Today, he’s announced State Ran Television. It’s official, we live in North Korea.”
Trump TV vs. Banned Outlets
The "all Trump, all the time" station launched at a time when the president is in the middle of his most sweeping attacks on the press yet. Days before launching Trump TV, the president barred CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House over what he perceives as negative coverage of his administration.
The move was reportedly inspired by Trump's fawning young aide, Natalie Harp , who got Trump upset by showing him Trump-critical clips from the network.
In an attempt to force the positive coverage Trump wants to see into the world, the administration launched a YouTube station devoted entirely to the president's speeches. Trump's deputy assistant, Kaelan Dorr said the 24-hour station was a necessity because “the press, in some cases, reported inaccurately or not at all on the Administration’s many record-breaking accomplishments.”
However, as a side-effect of the press ban, Trump TV inadvertently became one of the only places where people could actually hear the 80-year-old president on September 21.
The White House's television press pool, which consists of Fox, ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN, all suspended their coverage of Trump in solidarity with the banned networks. As a result, no network received audio of Trump's remarks that day, leading to surreal clips where Trump was seen but not heard giving a speech in New York City.
Trump Is Getting Sued
Trump is currently being sued by the three spurned media outlets on the ground that Trump is violating the First and Fifth Amendments.
“Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists’ credentials because it objected to our reporting,” the outlets wrote in a joint statement.
In a September 20 Fox News appearance , CBS White House correspondent Weija Jang called the ban "a serious concern for the public, because an attack on one outlet is an attack on everyone, no matter where that outlet falls on the political spectrum."
“America cannot have state TV.... That’s what makes America America,” she added.
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