Washington – President Donald Trump used a White House conference Thursday to applaud far-right social media provocateurs even as he conceded that some of them are extreme in their views.
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Trump, who has weaponized social media to eviscerate opponents and promote himself, led a “social media summit” of like-minded critics of Big Tech, excluding representatives from the very platforms he exploits.
The president used the event to air grievances over his treatment by Big Tech, but also to praise some of the most caustic voices on the right, who help energize Trump’s political base.
“Some of you guys are out there,” he told them. “I mean it’s genius, but it’s bad.”
Trump singled out for praise James O’Keefe, the right-wing activist whose Project Veritas organization once tried to plant a false story in The Washington Post. In May 2010, O’Keefe and three others pleaded guilty in federal court to a misdemeanor in a scheme in which they posed as telephone repairmen in Sen. Mary Landrieu’s New Orleans district office.
“He’s not controversial, he’s truthful,” Trump insisted of O’Keefe.
Playing to the friendly crowd in the East Room, Trump was at ease, joking about everything from his spelling in tweets (blaming his thumbs, not his brain, for any mistakes) to his hair (saying the rainy weather at his July 4 outdoor speech at least proved his hair was real.)
“With amazing creativity and determination, you are bypassing the corrupt establishment, and it is corrupt,” Trump said. “And you’re bypassing the very, very corrupt media.”
In lengthy remarks, he said: “You’re challenging the media gatekeepers and corporate censors to bring the truth to the American people. … You communicate directly with our citizens without going through the fake news filter.”
Earlier Thursday, Trump sent a stream of Twitter messages lashing out at social media companies and the press, familiar targets that resonate with his conservative base.
The meeting represented an escalation of Trump’s battle with companies like Facebook, Google and even his preferred communications outlet, Twitter, where he has an estimated 61 million followers. The president has claimed, without evidence, that the companies are “against me” and even suggested U.S. regulators should sue them on grounds of anti-conservative bias.
He announced Thursday that he is directing his administration to explore “all regulatory and legislative solutions to protect free speech and the free-speech rights of all Americans.”
And Trump said he’s inviting executives from major social media platforms to join him at the White House over the next month or so.
The firms already are under closer scrutiny than ever by regulators and in Congress following a stream of scandals, including Facebook’s lapses opening the personal data of millions of users to Trump’s 2016 campaign. A bipartisan push for new data privacy legislation has emerged in Congress. Regulators at the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission are pursuing antitrust investigations of Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon.
Trump’s volley of Twitter messages Thursday had familiar targets — “certain companies,” the press and his Democratic rivals. The president predicted, without foundation, the demise of the press and the social media platforms if he loses to a Democrat in 2020.
Among the other conservative organizations and individuals participating in the White House meeting were Ali Alexander, who questioned the racial background of California Sen. Kamala Harris, a Democratic presidential contender, in a tweet which was shared by Donald Trump Jr.; Turning Point USA, a nonprofit; PragerU, short for Prager University, which puts out short videos with a conservative perspective on politics and economics; radio host and former Trump aide Sebastian Gorka; anti-abortion activist Lila Rose, founder of Live Action; the video bloggers known as Diamond and Silk; the Media Research Center; and the Heritage Foundation, a Washington think tank.
The White House did not release a full list.
Accusations commonly leveled by conservatives against the social media platforms include anti-religious bias, a tilt against abortion foes and censorship of conservative political views.
Trump has made it a priority to reach out to voters who oppose abortion. The anti-abortion groups Live Action and Susan B. Anthony List say Twitter has blocked their advertising. Twitter policy prohibits paid ads with content “that is inflammatory or provocative and is likely to evoke a strong negative reaction.”
While some Silicon Valley company executives may lean liberal, they have asserted that their products are without political bias.
Representatives for Facebook, Google and Twitter have declined to comment specifically on the White House meeting. The Internet Association, the industry’s major trade group representing Facebook, Google and dozens of other companies, said online platforms “are the best tool for promoting voices from all political perspectives in history.”
“Internet companies are not biased against any political ideology, and conservative voices in particular have used social media to great effect,” the group’s president Michael Beckerman said in a statement Thursday. “Internet companies depend upon their users’ trust from across the political spectrum to grow and succeed.”
Facebook has banned extremist figures such as Alex Jones of Infowars and Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam. Twitter has banned hate speech on the basis of someone’s race, gender and other categories. Twitter broadened its policy this week to include banning language that dehumanizes others based on religion, and the company said it may also ban similar language aimed at other groups, such as those defined by gender, race and sexual orientation.
“I’ve never seen evidence of tech firm bias against conservatives,” said Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., who has been sharply critical of the big companies because of their market dominance and effect on competition. He leads a House Judiciary subcommittee that has opened a bipartisan probe into the tech giants’ market conduct.
“If someone wants to show me some empirical data, instead of some alt-right member’s paranoid claims, I’d appreciate it,” Cicilline said in a statement Wednesday.
Trump uses Twitter almost daily to speak directly to his followers. He has a knack for tweeting outrageous, divisive or tongue-in-cheek missives that spur frenzied reactions from the mainstream press.
At the same time, Trump has accused Twitter, without evidence, of making it “very hard for people to join me” and “very much harder for me to get out the message.”
Nice to see Trump praise the fascist fine people he has as bullhorns and supporters. I just read about the ghetto massacres in Riga done by the same volk and their Lett hintalas. Only 50,000 murdered in two days. The good old days for the volk. And fond memories for the Trump family. Disgusting Herr Trumpf.
Yep diamond and silk are probably nazis like ben schapiro
Far right?
Fake news. Far right is not the same as conservatives. Stop bashing trump vinnews
Diamond and Silk are a joke.They are performers paid by the Trump campaign. View them and see their foolish act.
Far right? Who says far right is bad? Another fake news narrative. They continue to disparage Brietbart when its chief editor is a frum jew names Joel Pollak. Did the nazis have frum jews editing their papers?
Lets not confuse far right with nazis. yes most nazis are far right. But most of far right are not nazis. Being proud of white nationality doesn’t make you a nazis. Its not anything more than being far left where haters exist too.
This is a fake news myth.
Now re these guys lying on social media. Well its about time. I always said to counter liars we need to lie back twice as hard. Its taste of the fake lying news own medicine.And thats why they hate it. And guess what yoni aka phineas yamsar, qaxzc etc.. does the same. By spamming vin with ten screen names they lie too.
But doesn’t the fake news report facts? Yes but they spin stories. Look at how they report the middle east conflcit. A conflict? Liar its terror.
Julie K. Brown is a perfect example of lying as well. She was on WNYC yesterday lying about Dershowitz connection with Epstien. She claims he is also guilty with a sneaky disclosure that “he claims” to disprove it. She goes in great leghnthes to discuss as guilt. I gotot give Alec Baldwin credit for at least allowing Dershowitz to clear his name. Derhsowitz proved that he wasn’t present at the times Brown alleges he was. he also has tapes with girls admitting they were paid to lie. he also invited any law official to investigate him. Yet Brown a pulltzier prize winner goes around peddling lies about Dershowitz. Of course the sneaker throws in a disclaimer that its not substantiated and Dershowitz “claims ” to have proof of innocence but she never saw the proof. She peedles lies and lies yet she won a prize. And she does it bec Derhsowoitz supports Trump so we need to bring him down.
How often do you hear of a neo nazi or a KKK member do a crime here in the USA? (and being a conspiracy theorist like David Duke is, is not a crime)
How often do you hear of an antifa member do a crime here in the USA? Last I heard was a few weeks ago when a journalist was almost murdered in Oregon by antifa (leftists let everyone have whatever opinion they want until they find out there actually are people with other opinions)
Arch,are you seriously claiming “Now re these guys lying on social media. Well its about time. I always said to counter liars we need to lie back twice as hard” ?
Didn’t your parents or anyone else tell you that it’s wrong to lie?
The man you admire and respect, Donald J. Trump is a master of the Art of Lying and has told almost 11,000 lies since being sworn in in January 2017.