Trump TV forces stations to air propaganda interview of Sarah Sanders

Press secretary Sarah Sanders only had time to hold a single White House press briefing last week, but she still managed to find time to sit for a softball interview with Trump propaganda outlet, Sinclair Broadcasting.

This week, the Trump-friendly media firm is forcing its 100-plus owned-and-operated local news channels around the country to air the interview. In it, Sanders and Sinclair’s Russian-born commentator, Boris Epshteyn, wallow in self-pity over how mean reporters and Democrats reportedly are to Trump and her.

Offering up zero examples to substantiate his claim, Epshteyn denounced the “disrespectful and despicable” ways that “many in the media” treat Sanders during the briefings.

When asked why that was, Sanders stressed, “Democrats in particular, at some point they’re going to have to decide if they love our country more than they hate this president.”

Whatever that means.

Epshteyn stressed, “Sarah is a good person, a mother of three, and a public servant. I hope that all members of the press start treating her with the respect that she deserves.”

For the record, Sanders is a chronic liar who echoes the blatant falsehoods of her boss on a regular basis. And that is why, on occasion, she’s pressed by reporters at White House briefings.

Sinclair, however, is doing its duty in trying to whitewash away her problems and spread the White House message from coast to coast.

“These parts of Epshteyn’s interview are now airing as ‘must-run’ segments on more than 100 Sinclair-owned and -operated local TV news stations across the country, sandwiched between sports and the weather,” Media Matters for America noted.

Rather than informing local viewers about news in their communities, Sinclair stations are increasingly designed to run interference for Trump.

Last week, stations were forced to run an Epshteyn commentary in which he blamed Democrats and the press for the spectacle of migrant children being ripped away from their parents and detained in cages as part of Trump’s “zero-tolerance” immigration crackdown.

And that’s why Trump is doing everything in his power to make sure dishonest Sinclair is able to expand its reach.

Last year, Trump’s FCC ripped up long-standing regulations that limit the number of local television stations a single company could own in the U.S. in order to make sure Sinclair could expand its partisan empire.

Since then, Sinclair made a $3.9 billion bid to acquire the Tribune Company. If completed, the deal would put the company in control of 223 TV stations, a previously unheard of number of outlets for a single television broadcast company to own.

Combined, that would give Sinclair access to more than 70 percent of American households, including major market stations in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

Partisan, GOP-friendly media giants like Sinclair make a mockery out of the Trump team’s complaint about liberal media bias.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.