Trump's daughter-in-law pushes his propaganda: Lara Trump launches "real news" show to praise the president

Lara Trump launches "real news" show to list President Donald Trump's achievements

By Sophia Tesfaye

Senior Politics Editor

Published August 2, 2017 1:03PM (EDT)

Lara Trump (Facebook/Donald J. Trump)
Lara Trump (Facebook/Donald J. Trump)

President Donald Trump is clearly very frustrated with the non-stop coverage of the chaos that has consumed his first six months in office. Just last week, he oversaw the collapse of Republicans' efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare, his new communications director went on a nasty tirade and he, along with Trump’s chief of staff, was later dumped. That’s why Trump’s middle son, Eric, recently ran to his Fox News safe space hosted by Sean Hannity to demand, “I want somebody to start fighting for him.”

Apparently, Eric hasn’t tuned into his own wife’s new Facebook show meant to serve as direct propaganda for the president. But Eric shouldn’t feel too bad. Launched a few weeks ago, Lara Trump’s “real news” venture went virtually uncovered until Buzzfeed broke the news late last night. Trump’s base, of course, appears to be watching. Lara Trump’s most recent video from four days ago already has over 2 million views, 47,000 likes and over 14,000 shares. Posted to Donald Trump’s Facebook page, Lara’s video segments air once a week -- opposite HBO’s “Game of Thrones.”  

In one recent video, Lara, a former producer for “Inside Edition,” explained, “If you are tired of all the fake news out there, remember, you can tune in right here on our Facebook page every week. We are going to bring you nothing but the facts. Stay tuned.”

Lara Trump, it should be noted, is not a government employee. It appears her Trump news channel is produced by the president's reelection campaign as Lara is speaking against the backdrop that promotes his campaign website – DonaldJTrump.com.

"Want to know what President Trump did this week?" her most recent Sunday post asks. "Watch here for the REAL news!"

She continues: “I bet you haven't heard about all the accomplishments the president had this week, because there’s so much fake news out there.” Lara tells Trump supporters, "We wanted to give you a glimpse into his week."

Speaking highly of her father-in-law, Lara says “first up this week, let’s talk about the president’s salary. Again, the president has donated his salary. His first quarter salary went to the Parks Department. His second quarter salary has now been donated to the Department of Education.”

“This is a president who is putting America before himself.” Lara went on to cite the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s “historic high” as a big Trump “win” for the week.

She failed to mention, of course, other topics that dominated the news last week, including Trump's ban on transgender service members and the failure of Obamacare repeal.

Lara ends her segment with: “Thanks for joining us, everybody. I’m Lara Trump, and that is the real news.” Watch below: 

Team Trump's propaganda machine hasn't been left solely in the hands of the president's daughter-in-law, however. (His son-in-law, Jared Kushner, on the other hand, has been tasked with single-handedly brokering peace in the Middle East, overseeing a new tech boom, and a bureaucratic overhaul of the federal government -- all while under investigation.) Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., the largest owner of television stations in the U.S., recently hired a former top Trump campaign staffer to produce pro-Trump news segments to be aired on local stations across the country.


By Sophia Tesfaye

Sophia Tesfaye is Salon's senior editor for news and politics, and resides in Washington, D.C. You can find her on Twitter at @SophiaTesfaye.

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Donald Trump Facebook Fake News Lara Trump Propaganda Media Real News Trump Campaign