Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump dismissed criticism Wednesday of his latest ad, which featured footage of people running across a border in Morocco as Trump makes the case that he will secure the U.S.-Mexico border.
“No, it’s, it was just footage. It was really just footage. And frankly all it shows is people running across a border,” Trump said in a sit-down interview on MSNBC’s program “Morning Joe.”
Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s campaign manager, told media on Monday that “no shit” the footage wasn’t of Mexico, but “that’s what our country is going to look like.” A day later, Michael Cohen, special counsel to Trump and executive vice president of the Trump Organization, said there’s “no doubt” someone made a mistake in the footage selection.
The real estate magnate said America has become “a dumping ground for everybody.”
“And all that’s supposed to show is people running across a border, and that’s what it looks like,” the real estate magnate continued.
Here’s the exchange, courtesy of MSNBC:
Hmm. I’m skeptical. I’ve seen some studies that say that projecting still photos in rapid succession can create the illusion of motion, and can have profound psychological effects. But hell, that’s just me…
the media treats this guy with kid gloves because their afraid he won’t appear on their shows if they actually press him on his bullshit.
He response is essentially “eh, facts don’t matter” and this an acceptable response for a presidential candidate? GTFOH
And this is how Trump bamboozles his way into building golf courses and hotels that go bankrupt…no no it doesn’t matter, it’s just a picture BUT when I DO IT it’s gonna be YUUUUGGGEEE!
The video’s purpose was to deceive. It was chosen for its shock value ( as long as you were ignorant of its truth ) to alarm folks by deception. It was a calculated and deliberate act. It was not just “footage”. It was footage put on American TV’s to deceive Americans into thinking there’s a problem that in reality does not exists. Belief in that bogus problem is central to Trump’s success. So he lied to the country.
So far he’s not been called down for the lie in it.
Because most of the target audience for this ad (assuming he actually airs it, which is a pretty dicey assumption), won’t hear this discussion about the footage being from Morocco. They will take it as an article of faith that its from the Mexican border, and they are all rapists and drug dealers.
Let’s face it, the meta question that this video raises, isn’t even being discussed. That is, that there IS a wall on that border and it is a complete joke at stopping immigration. And that’s just a tiny little border by comparison to the one Trump wants to fortify.