Donald Trump has been cursing and casting blame at the mainstream media for defaming him since he announced that he would be running for president. It would seem he finally had enough because his campaign is launching its own nightly coverage of the presidential election via Facebook Live. With the candidate’s own TV station “Trump TV” set to go live soon, many are taking this move as laying the groundwork for his own network.
The live stream broadcast occurred Monday night 6:30p.m. ET, which is usually when other news networks go live, USA Today notes. Hosting the show were two of his campaign advisers Boris Epshteyn and Cliff Sims, and they were broadcasting from Trump Tower.
As expected, however, the show wasn’t really news per se. It was simply shot in a way that made it seem like a legitimate news broadcast.
The guests included Trump’s campaign manager KellyAnne Conway and Tomi Lahren, a conservative commentator. This resulted in nothing short of an adoring display of affection for the Republican candidate, making the show seem more like an advertisement for Trump. This is not an odd thing for anyone who knows anything about the billionaire, however, and expecting otherwise would have been the weird thing to do.
As The Daily Beast notes, this could also be a means of setting up Trump’s crowd for the nearing launch of Trump TV, which is expected to be soon. This hasn’t been confirmed, but Epshteyn’s comments to Dallas News about his willingness to also be a host on any Trump broadcast if one is created after the campaign is telling.
In any case, it would seem Monday’s live stream didn’t have too many views, which peaked at 60,000 viewers, The Huffington Post reports. It’s clear that many caught on to what the show was really about and had decided that it wasn’t to their taste.