If you want some ideological insight into the progressives who are currently voting actual communists into office in America, look no further than the spectacularly unhinged reaction to Trump TV.
“He’s violating our constitutional rights to create a media monopoly for his personal gain,” someone who goes by Former Republican on X insisted. “State-run media just like a truly Communist Regime would do,” a different user wrote. “That is some Hitler sh*t going down,” commented another.
You know how when you see people attempting backflips off folding tables or sticking their hands into zoo enclosures and you think, “Can people actually be that dumb?” It turns out, yes. Yes, they can. And then some.
Despite the grandiose name, TRUMP TV: The Essentials Station is not a new television network. It’s a YouTube channel—and not even a new one. It’s the same one the White House has had since 2006. What Washington debuted this week was a highlight reel pulled from its YouTube archive and played on a loop, with the occasional live event thrown in to keep viewers guessing. (“Is Melania wearing the boater hat again or is this old footage?”) Think political MTV or C-SPAN with reruns.
That’s it.
There are no regularly scheduled shows, no anchors, and no correspondents. There’s no news desk, no scrolling ticker, and no debate table. Just… the current administration’s greatest hits. And yet, to hear progressives tell it, we are one autoplay away from becoming the People’s Republic of Trump.
THE LEFT: “THIS IS STATE-RUN PROGRAMMING! IT’S PROPAGANDA! FASCISM! AUTOCRACY! THE DEATH OF FREE SPEECH!”
THE RIGHT: “Finally. Unbiased news!”
TRUMP TV: “Would you like to see the inauguration again?”
I am not even exaggerating. The White House itself describes the channel as “top past moments, announcements, and the latest and greatest from the administration.” It streams archived speeches, policy announcements, and promotional clips. And, most critically for our descent into totalitarianism, you don’t even have to watch it.
I get that the timing of the launch—hot on the heels of POTUS banning a few major media players from his orbit—might make it seem like the guy is trying to fill that void with curated, more flattering content than, say, something CNN would air. Because that is exactly what he’s doing.
What he’s not doing is suggesting that this is the hottest new place to get your late-breaking headlines. And I don’t know who needs to hear this, but publishing a completely optional video feed and seizing the airwaves and replacing every channel with 24-hour government programming are interchangeable the way ballet and sumo wrestling are basically the same sport. For a handy demonstration of the difference, look no further than the former Soviet Union.
In 2025, Russia launched Max, a state-backed “super-app” that combines messaging, banking, and access services into one nifty platform. Want to communicate with your kids’ teacher? Max. Need to get into your university classroom or dorm? Also Max. Need to buy something, send a message, prove you exist, or presumably ask whether the government would prefer you wear blue or beige today? There’s probably a Max button for that.
Russia has since pushed tens of millions of people onto Max while systematically squeezing out the competition. Which might be merely creepy if Max were just your standard mandatory-but-convenient app. It’s not. Just last week, researchers found that Max’s “mini-apps” can take screenshots, access stored phone info, inject code, and even impersonate users without their knowledge. It’s less “simple app for streamlining modern life” and more “next-level Big Brother stuff Orwell himself would have rejected for being too Orwellian.”
Trump TV, by contrast, is a YouTube channel. You can watch it. You can ignore it. You can stream a guy unclogging a storm drain instead. You can forget YouTube entirely and tune into CNN on an old-fashioned television set. You can get your news from your mother, Brenda from mah-jongg, or your Magic 8 Ball. Your government does not care.
Before anyone says it, I know. Dystopia is a slow burn. Everything starts somewhere. No one wakes up one day to a box of “WELCOME TO THE REGIME” donuts on their doorstep. Which is why in this great, free country of ours we have elections, courts, a First Amendment, an independent press, and tens of millions of gun-loving patriots prepared to raise holy hell long before anyone welds our televisions to Channel 47.
It’s also worth noting that our aspiring communist dictator spent yesterday at the United Nations declaring that “communism will never be coming to America” and predicting its demise in Cuba (after a year of tightening sanctions on the actual communist regime there). So vigilance? Absolutely. But perhaps we could hold off on ordering flowers for democracy’s funeral until Trump’s inauguration becomes required viewing.
And again, nobody is forcing parents, students, or teachers to install Trump TV. Nobody needs a TTV app to enter a government building. Nobody has banned YouTube’s other 22 billion videos so that the only thing left is Donald Trump at Mount Rushmore. Still, somehow an unsettling number of people have skipped directly from the government has a YouTube channel to THE GOVERNMENT CONTROLS THE MEDIA, which is a rather magnificent leap—particularly from a political faction that literally demanded Big Tech censor Covid “misinformation.”
The funniest part of the whole uproar is that pretty much everyone on the planet is ignoring TTV. The Daily Beast is monitoring viewership with the intensity of NORAD tracking an incoming missile and gleefully reported yesterday that a whopping 427 people were watching at 7 a.m. So just to recap: Trump TV is a terrifying authoritarian propaganda machine with the power to destroy the country. Also, nobody is even watching it. Got it.
The people calling a voluntary White House highlight reel “state-sponsored media” are not warning us about a Marxist revolution. They’re using “communism” the way toddlers use “no” or “stinky poopy head”: as the loudest available word for something they dislike. Here’s what I wish these oversized tykes were smart enough to grasp: championing government-run grocery stores and wealth taxes while shrieking that an optional YouTube channel is the road to Moscow isn’t insight. It’s ideological illiteracy. It’s selective hypocrisy. And frankly, it’s embarrassing.
You know what happens if you don’t want to watch Trump TV? You don’t click on it. CNN is still there. MSNBC—sorry, MS NOW—is still there. Fox is there. (Literally: last night, a federal judge ordered the banned outlets’ White House access temporarily restored while the constitutional challenge plays out.) The New York Times is there. Podcasts are there. Substack is there. X is apparently still available for posting graphics explaining that Donald Trump controls the mass media. And—this seems important—you can publicly call Trump TV fascist state propaganda on the very same internet where Trump TV lives.
Which seems like an unusual feature for an authoritarian media monopoly.
Anyway, the storm drain turned out great. In fact, the guy titled it the best storm drain unclogging ever (a bar I admit I did not realize existed). You should watch it while you still can.
POLL REDUX FOR FINICKY PHONES:
How concerned are you about Trump TV?
hahahaha it’s YouTube.
maybe a bit? (Don’t tell.)
[shudders in Russian]
Sorry, I’m watching Storm Drain TV.
*combo/unsure/other
But PBS and NPR weren't government media?
“Here’s what I wish these oversized tykes were smart enough to grasp: championing government-run grocery stores and wealth taxes while shrieking that an optional YouTube channel is the road to Moscow isn’t insight. It’s ideological illiteracy. It’s selective hypocrisy. And frankly, it’s embarrassing.” BINGO!