The Trump propaganda machine hits overdrive
The White House curates news that makes the president look good. Sound familiar?
By Jeff Nesbit
Here’s a pop quiz. What’s the hottest new right-wing media outlet in America? Fox News? Newsmax? Breitbart News? One America News? The Tucker Carlson Show? The Megyn Kelly Show? The Free Press? Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire?
Nope. It’s the Trump White House itself. You can read about it right on its new, daily propaganda web page called WHWire, which is modeled after the Drudge Report.
Right there at the top of the page Saturday night, featured prominently, is the pro-Trump headline from a mainstream news outlet that says exactly that:
“Trump’s White House is the hottest right-wing media outlet.”
The story behind that headlined featured at the top of WHWire is an Axios piece about how the Trump White House sets everything up. (Yes: From staged Cabinet meetings where senior officials on Trump’s team stretch the truth to breaking points to make their boss look good, to posters designed to become social media memes placed strategically at every event where Trump speaks, it’s all a set-up.)
So, what, exactly, is WHWire? This:
It’s unabashedly pro-Trump;
It parrots, borrows and steals whatever is available on social, digital and traditional media sites that say nice, fawning, or laudatory things about Trump, and;
It is a 24/7 headline-grabbing wire ticker that amps everything Trump does or says to max levels.
In short, WHWire is unfiltered propaganda that casts every utterance, every phrase, every executive order and every pronouncement as world-shaking news from the pinnacle of power in Trump’s White House. It is pro-Trump news on steroids.
“The White House is deploying its platforms and personnel in ways that often feel more like how a modern media company would operate than a national government,” the Axios author, Neal Rothschild, wrote. Trump’s WHWire took the Axios headline from that exclusive and emblazoned it across its new web page.
“It's a striking contrast to the benign and restrained approach that previous administrations and other countries take with their online presence,” Rothschild wrote. “The official White House X account posted an ASMR-style video of migrants being deported and a cartoon rendering of a crying woman being arrested by ICE. This week it tapped into the viral 100 men vs. one gorilla meme to tout deportations.”
What else can you find on WHWire? All sorts of things you might not otherwise know or discover about the 47th president of the United States. And, so that you don’t miss the nuance of the headline running under the constantly streaming WHWIRE ticker, most headlines it features are in ALL CAPS on the 24/7 Trump wire.
“THE MOST SUCCESSFUL FIRST 100 DAYS IN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORY” was one of the prominently featured headlines last week on the new web page.
The source of that assessment (which ignores the trade wars and federal government chaos that leading economists and financial leaders believe is driving America into a recession? The Fox News Channel.
"The President's First 100 Days Is a Return to American Greatness," reads another WHWire headline, pulled from a Newsweek op-ed authored by Republican Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas.
The official Trump White House line is that WHWire is not propaganda. “A White House official said the site serves a key strategic purpose: To give pro-Trump influencers a central hub to disseminate Trump-favorable coverage,” Axios co-founder Mike Allen wrote in his morning newsletter.
Curiously, WHWire chose not to feature one of Trump’s most popular pieces of social media last week—an image (generated by artificial intelligence) of Trump dressed as the pope that was posted just a few days ahead of the papal conclave (where a new pope will be chosen) and amid the mourning of Pope Francis’ death.
Trump posted the image on the Truth Social, the site he owns. It drew sharp rebukes, including from Catholic bishops. But, though Trump’s WHWire chose not to amplify the fake Trump-as-pope image, the official White House reposted it on the official White House X and Instagram accounts.
“The image featuring Trump in a white cassock and pointed miter, or bishop’s hat, was the topic of several questions during the Vatican’s daily conclave briefing Saturday,” the Associated Press reported over the weekend. “Italian and Spanish news reports lamented its poor taste and said it was offensive, given that the period of official mourning is still underway.”
What else might you find on WHWire?
“Trump Yanks Federal Funding For ‘Biased’ Left-Wing Media Orgs NPR And PBS,” from a story on Trump executive orders on The Daily Caller.
“The Golden Age of the American Worker is Here,” from a post on X about a Fox Business interview of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-Deremer.
And, of course, this: “Alien Enemies Act Exists to Protect Americans,” from an op-ed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio on FoxNews.com.
So, stay tuned. Trump’s White House media machine is only getting started.
Jeff Nesbit was the public affairs chief for five Cabinet departments or agencies under four presidents.
The official Trump White House line is that WHWire is not propaganda. “A White House official said the site serves a key strategic purpose: To give pro-Trump influencers a central hub to disseminate Trump-favorable coverage,” Axios co-founder Mike Allen wrote in his morning newsletter.
And please explain to me this is not exactly propaganda?
Shame! Shame! Shame! They have no shame!