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The story behind this video that Trump promoted today from his social media guy is Alice in Wonderland stuck in a "Matrix" simulation of "Inception." I wasn't planning a thread today but let's go down the rabbit hole... https://twitter.com/DanScavino/status/1328917432426237956
So the montage that Scavino or whoever created is based on an initiative from the conservative Sinclair Broadcast Group which took place in 2018. The company made a script and forced their anchors to read it in an attempt to criticize the media for being too liberal!
Thus it's the height of Orwellian propaganda for Trump & Scavino to use the clip to attack legit reporters for criticizing his dangerous attempts to undermine America's election system. For a background on the clips, see this from my friend @SophiaTesfaye https://www.salon.com/2018/04/01/sinclair-broadcasting-under-fire-for-fake-news-script/
Here's more info on the script: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/02/business/media/sinclair-news-anchors-script.html
The irony of using this video to criticize the media for supposedly being left-wing fake news is *even worse* when you consider that Sinclair, a conservative local TV station owner, was fined in 2017 for airing advertising as actual news https://www.salon.com/2017/12/22/sinclair-broadcast-group-fined-13-4-million-for-fake-news/
And furthermore, Trump himself has been a great friend to Sinclair. His administration officials have met secretly with its executives as they sought to make it easier to buy TV stations. https://www.salon.com/2018/02/16/fcc-inspector-general-examining-whether-chairman-ajit-pai-colluded-with-sinclair-broadcast-group/
Trump personally has talked up about how much he loves Sinclair wants to help them make local news more conservative.
He's talked about it three different times: https://twitter.com/search?q=from%3Arealdonaldtrump%20sinclair&src=typed_query
He's talked about it three different times: https://twitter.com/search?q=from%3Arealdonaldtrump%20sinclair&src=typed_query
Beyond airing ads as news programming, Sinclair has also for years forced its stations to air entire shows that are intensely biased toward Republicans. It's currently doing this right now: https://www.mediamatters.org/search?search=sinclair
I don't think you could find a more perfect example of how Trump and his acolytes distort the truth while also having no idea what they're talking about than this ridiculous Sinclair mashup. It is the apotheosis of right-wing information coprophagia.
Also, the montage that Scavino tweeted was originally created by @bubbaprog as a CRITICISM of Sinclair. The @Deadspin watermark is still on the video.
Since then, however, the clip has acquired the literal opposite meaning via QAnon and Gateway Pundit https://twitter.com/bubbaprog/status/989539179284586496
Since then, however, the clip has acquired the literal opposite meaning via QAnon and Gateway Pundit https://twitter.com/bubbaprog/status/989539179284586496
In summary: 1) Sinclair forced its anchors to make rw propaganda, 2) It was criticized via a humorous/scary montage, 3) Trump defended Sinclair after clip was made, 4) Far right media stupidly thought the video had the opposite meaning, 5) Trump/Scavino shat out the turdburger.
