Have you noticed how almost daily, the left works itself into such a frenzy that you'd think the republic was hanging by a thread? The word "authoritarian" gets tossed around like confetti; leftists start clutching their pearls as if they’ve never seen something so outrageous. The pile-on ensues, with everyone rushing to social media with their opinions, and cable news starts booking every left-wing constitutional “scholar” it can find.
Then you look at the thing everyone is screaming about, and you can't help but laugh. And of course the same thing just happened this week.
On Monday, word started spreading online that the White House had launched something called “Trump TV.” The usual suspects took about five minutes to call it state-run propaganda, especially since it arrived right after the White House revoked press credentials for CNN, MS NOW, and Politico.
The meltdown came fast. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) chimed in with this moronic take:
First, Trump banned independent news from the White House.
— Governor Gavin Newsom (@CAgovernor) September 22, 2026
Now, he's launching what is quite literally state-run TV to try drowning out the fact that he and his corrupt administration are failing the American people.
This is truly autocratic behavior from a failed President. https://t.co/1vv0dNz0mU
Cerin Lindgrensavage and Rachel Goodman of Protect Democracy went even further. "Trump TV is part of a much larger effort by the White House to distort public perception, bias content, and generally spread propaganda," they wrote. "Every White House wants to persuade the populace that the president is right — but Trump's goal is not to persuade. Like all authoritarians, he wants to control the information environment and force opposing views out of sight." The pair even tried to "explain" why Trump TV is "a crime."
"Amid Trump's ban on three media outlets, the White House is now touting its own state-run propaganda network: 'TRUMP TV,'" HuffPost deputy editor Philip Lewis wrote. Political commentator Ed Krassenstein chimed in as well, branding it "official state-run media."
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I'll admit I groaned when I first heard about Trump TV. I figured it probably wasn't as sinister as people claimed, but I still just ignored it.
So I finally looked into it. And I was shocked (shocked!) by what I learned.
It's just a YouTube station.
That's it.
That's the whole “scandal.”
A freakin’ YouTube station on the White House YouTube channel, looping videos.
If you only read the headlines, you'd think Trump had seized PBS, slapped his name on it, and forced every American to watch it whenever they turned on a television.
What the White House actually did was put a looping stream of content on YouTube.
Seriously? This is the autocratic power grab?
The White House has used YouTube this way for years. Barack Obama's White House launched its official YouTube channel almost immediately after he took office in January 2009 and filled it with speeches, press briefings, weekly addresses, White House events, and behind-the-scenes footage. All that crap. Pretty much exactly what you’d expect an administration to do.
And that’s basically what each administration has done since.
Funny, I don't remember Newsom calling any of that autocratic.
The only real difference is that Trump TV runs looped content around the clock. That's the difference that supposedly turns the White House into the Kremlin.
Calling it "state-run" is also mind-numbingly stupid.
YouTube is a private company. Anyone can start a channel, and anyone can run a nonstop stream. Your neighbor could launch one tomorrow featuring nothing but his lawn mower. And nobody has to watch Trump TV. It's there if you want it, and if you don't, you scroll past it like everything else on YouTube.
In short, Trump’s critics were trolled again, and they fell for it.
In the end, it’s no more “state-run propaganda” than what Joe Biden and Barack Obama used YouTube for. Russia’s RT and China's CCTV are government-run networks built to control what their citizens see. This is a YouTube stream that no one is honestly going to give a hoot about next week.
Every White House uses the internet to push its agenda, whether it’s through the White House website or social media accounts. Livestreaming a speech on a private website nobody has to visit doesn't make America authoritarian.
