At first, it just seems like the kind of glitch that happens occasionally with live broadcasts. A crowd is assembled on the White House lawn, a gaggle of press photographers is ready, and they begin to applaud politely as Donald Trump walks out to unveil a new helipad.
The problem, however, is you can barely hear their applause. Instead, the sound is overwhelmed by what appears to be noise from a helicopter. Usually, this kind of glitch lasts for just a few seconds before a professional switches the audio to the right feed.
But on the official White House feed – the day it launched its 24/7 “Trump TV” online channel – the terrible, howling audio just continues. The audio is still howling 30 seconds into the clip when Trump shakes hands with dignitaries.
As he addresses the assembled crowd with a few remarks 46 seconds in, all we can hear is the occasional word here and there against the relentless hum.
When he finishes speaking and cuts the red, white, and blue ribbon 90 seconds later, the hum is still all we hear. Those with generous spirits might think that, well, helicopters are loud – perhaps the rotors were just too loud for the sound engineers to overcome, except they weren’t even turning. Trump’s audio team just botched their job.
It was a humiliating start to Trump TV, which is the President’s attempt to get his message out directly, with a channel that’s all Trump, all the time. Though seemingly not as high on his priority list, his personal popularity hits new lows almost every time a new poll is released. His party is heading for disaster in the midterm elections, he has a cost of living crisis he has no plan to solve, and a new Middle Eastern war that has spiralled out of control across Yemen as well as Iran.
Trump’s helipad might be one of the only wins the President has managed this year. But whatever he’s said at his big unveiling will be lost to multimedia history, because his White House feed was the only audio available. Usually, US networks arrange “pool” coverage for US events, high-quality video and audio shared between themselves to cover his every public movement.
But because the US President petulantly – and possibly unlawfully – chose to ban CNN from the White House, the TV pool has suspended its operations until he changes course, meaning there was no professionally produced backup audio available. In trying to show the mainstream media that he didn’t need them, and could bypass them entirely, Trump instead made himself look like a fool.
On paper, Trump TV should be alarming. Presidents, like all politicians, need to be covered by journalists independent of the state and of the White House political operation. If the White House controls the audio and video feeds of presidential events, they can cut out embarrassing gaffes, avoid awkward questions, and censor moments they don’t wish to be covered.
The idea of the US – the home of the First Amendment – setting up a state-operated propaganda channel, even as it bans media outlets because the president doesn’t like their coverage, is fundamentally anti-American. It is more suited to the behaviour of dictators than that of presidents.
And yet, even when he should look powerful and dangerous, even if only malevolent, he instead reminds us what a diminished figure he has become. He simply seems to lack the popularity and the operation to get even this done. Donald Trump is trying to run half the world – but he can’t even get a mic check right.
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