Trump’s Reelection Campaign Tried To Buy CNN Ad Space For An Anti-CNN Ad, And Got Shut Down

Between his largely criticized reaction to the Charlottesville, Virginia violence and the subsequent departure of several major CEOs from his manufacturing advisory council, Donald Trump isn’t having a great week. Yet that hasn’t stopped the 207-day-old POTUS from launching and maintaining a boisterous reelection campaign for 2020. For in addition to citing his strong stance on military issues like the current North Korea crisis, Trump has also spent a lot of time attacking members of the news media — especially in a new campaign ad that charges the “fake news” with “attacking” him.

According to BuzzFeed News, the ad in question — titled “Let President Trump Do His Job” — “casts the press as the president’s enemy and features clips of various mainstream media news anchors.” Anchors, journalists and pundits from CNN and MSNBC are specifically featured, like the latter’s Morning Joe co-hosts, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski. CNN personalities Don Lemon, Dana Bash and Anderson Cooper are also highlighted, which led the network to reject the reelection campaign’s bid to buy placement on the very channel the commercial was criticizing. In fact, CNN blocked the reelection campaign’s bid twice.

“CNN would accept the ad if the images of reporters and anchors are removed,” a CNN spokesperson explained to BuzzFeed News in a statement. “Anchors and reporters don’t have ‘enemies,’ as the ad states, but they do hold those in power accountable across the political spectrum and aggressively challenge false and misleading statements and investigate wrong-doing.” Meanwhile, reelection campaign executive director Michael Glassner issued a counter-statement charging CNN with “[providing] further proof that the network earns this mistrust every day by censoring President Trump’s message to the American people by blocking our paid campaign ad.”

In May, CNN blocked the reelection campaign’s first bid for airtime over the advertisement’s use of the term “fake news” against it and other news networks. At the time, Glassner issued a statement spinning the cable channel’s ad block in politically charged terms not unlike his most recent remarks. “It is absolutely shameful to see the media blocking the positive message that President Trump is trying to share with the country,” he told Politico. “It’s clear that CNN is trying to silence our voice and censor our free speech because it doesn’t fit their narrative.”

(Via BuzzFeed News & Politico)

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