Since his 2016 campaign, President Donald Trump and his allies—foreign and domestic—have relied on visual propaganda to present the picture of a working class billionaire, a thrice-divorced family man, and a benevolent bully.
Whether it's false memes manufactured overseas or official White House videos designed to look like campaign ads, the President—a former reality television host—knows how to wield production design in his favor, turning the 20,000+ lies he's told since his inauguration into mere special effects.
This reliance on propaganda has led Trump to repeatedly use consequential developments in government—such as the recent confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court—into partisan campaign ads. He's orchestrated taxpayer-funded parades to do the same.
Trump unveiled his latest propaganda video at a recent rally in the swing state of Michigan. For Trump's critics, the video was as bleak as the weather in which it premiered.
Watch below.
Here's what they just played at Trump's rally in Lansing, Michigan: pic.twitter.com/pEzLNUamjs
— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) October 27, 2020
The bizarre video invokes anti-democratic imagery commonly used to scare Republican voters into mobilizing—the Hollywood sign with lightning in the horizon, "closed" signs, "Fear" spelled out in Scrabble tiles, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)—over the song "In the End," originally performed by Linkin Park.
The pro-Trump portions of the video show rising stock prices, ascending military jets, a Black man and white man solving centuries of institutional racism with a high five, and—perhaps predictably—a stern looking Trump walking in slow motion to the cinematic music.
With nearly 250 thousand Americans dead from the pandemic Trump continues to dismiss, millions more unemployed by it, and a years-long division often exacerbated by the President's off-the-cuff tweets, Trump's critics weren't seeing the epic statesman the video tried to present.
In fact, many were disturbed at a level of deceptive propaganda that fictional dystopias warned us about.
This is the most dystopian thing I've ever seen lol https://t.co/EfTITmSxUC
— Ben Dreyfuss (@bendreyfuss) October 28, 2020
Soooo there's this book by George Orwell... https://t.co/JTlLJjjQe3
— cryborg (@cryborg) October 28, 2020
I studied Nazi propaganda as part of my MA in history. Never did I think I'd see propaganda like this in the United States in 2020. Chilling. https://t.co/Lim1ma3WgK
— Jarbara Bones ☠️ (@bjonesbrown) October 29, 2020
Put it in black and white and it's straight out of 1984. https://t.co/TlUbUNkv7g
— Blue in Alaska🤙🏻TheRealFatShady, Ridin'WithBiden (@AKMooserider) October 28, 2020
watch the whole video to understand the triggers he uses to manipulate people into believing they are on the side of truth and justice. this is scary stuff. https://t.co/atYs5G1lrj
— ⚖️Laura Fitton (she/her) Listen to Black women🇺🇸 (@Pistachio) October 28, 2020
If I wanted to see stuff like this I'd just move to North Korea.... https://t.co/t3WIHGPzFQ
— Atticus Finch (@Atticus59914029) October 28, 2020
It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. https://t.co/avQvqNgmYL
— Orin Kerr (@OrinKerr) October 27, 2020
Some found humor, however dark, in its absurdity.
This is all absolutely off the wall BUT WHY IS POSTMODERN NEO-FASCISM SO CORNY! WHY HAVE THEY SET IT TO A LINKIN PARK SONG LOOOOOOOOOL https://t.co/TRqu1Zvjgv
— Arbeitology (@Arbeit_Fish) October 27, 2020
Worst drive-in movie ever. I heard Nikki Haley was supposed to provide popcorn and we all know how that turned out. 🙄 https://t.co/q8oObvU4mD
— Linda Childers (@lindarchilders) October 28, 2020
lol is this ironic? like the text of this video is that trump didn't fix anything right? that voting for him didn't matter? he's memeing right? https://t.co/x8woHawrAw
— Ethan Walker (@ethanmwalker) October 29, 2020
With the presidential election only days away, it's possible the United States is seeing the last of Trump's infamous rallies as we've come to know them since 2015.
