Trump's Press Briefing Video Message

Submission 9,913

Part of a series on Donald Trump. [View Related Entries]

About

Trump's Press Briefing Video Message refers to a series of photoshopped images based on President Donald Trump's video pre-recorded video message that was played on two television monitors during a January 2018 White House press briefing.

Origin

On January 4th, 2018, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders presented a video message from President Trump during the White House press briefing. New York Times photographer Doug Mills tweeted a picture of the moment and included the caption, ".@realDonaldTrump makes a statement about the economy via video as @PressSec looks on during her briefing at the White House." The post (shown below) received more than 480 retweets and 1,400 likes in less than 24 hours.

Spread

Later that day, responding to a retweet by @Carrasquillo,^[2] Twitter user @TheJML9999 tweeted^[3] a template of the same, removing the images of Trump. The post (shown below, left) received more than 300 retweets and 1,700 likes.

Following the posting the template, more people began replying to @TheJML9999's post with various images photoshopped into the photograph. Twitter^[4] user @ValerieSprague tweeted a photoshop featuring left shark from Katy Perry's infamous Super Bowl Halftime Show. The tweet (shown below, center) received more than 560 retweets and 2,900 likes in less than 24 hours.

Other people online posted different angles of the picture. Twitter^[5] user @zarzarbinkss tweeted the picture with the Trump Chicken superimposed into the photograph. The post (shown below, right) received more than 75 retweets and 120 likes in 24 hours.

Some online criticized the president for making the statement via pre-taped video. NBC correspondent Katy Tur tweeted,^[6] "If the President wants to make an appearance in the briefing room in front of reporters he should walk in there. He's down the hall." The tweet (shown below) received more than 3,900 retweets and 19,000 likes in 24 hours.

That day, Daily Show video producer Matt Negrin tweeted^[7] a video of the press conference with a clip from Rick and Morty superimposed onto the video screens. Within 24 hours, the post (shown below) received more than 380 retweets and 1,000 likes.

Several media outlets covered the press conference and reaction to it, including Uproxx,^[8] The Daily Dot,^[9] TIME^[10] and more.