A glimpse at what Trump TV might look like

Moments before the third and final presidential debate of the election cycle Wednesday night, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump launched a live-stream on his Facebook page that some think might have been the inaugural broadcast of Trump TV.

The Trump campaign, partnering with a pro-Trump live-stream outlet called Right Side Broadcasting, organized an extensive broadcast that resembled how other news outlets covered the big night at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. There were more than 20 minutes of unfiltered pro-Trump, pre-debate coverage, nearly two hours of pro-Trump, post-debate coverage and pre-recorded, pro-Trump videos interspersed among the interviews.

Trump has pushed out past live-streams from Right Side Broadcasting, a young online network that streams every one of the mogul’s events. But the level of participation from the Trump campaign Wednesday night was striking.

There was speculation this summer that Trump might turn his political popularity into a news venture, à la the Sarah Palin Channel or Ron Paul’s Voices of Liberty. These rumors intensified this week amid reports that the billionaire real estate developer’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, met with an investment banker about launching Trump TV.

In Wednesday night’s broadcast, which might be a harbinger of what’s to come, Trump campaign senior adviser Boris Epshteyn and communications adviser Cliff Sims discussed the debate with various Trump supporters and surrogates, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, pro-Trump YouTube celebrities Diamond and Silk, the candidate’s sons (Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.), campaign adviser Sarah Huckabee Sanders, campaign spokeswoman Katrina Pierson and former “Apprentice” star Omarosa Manigault.

“Mainstream media is against us. We need you guys to tell our story on Facebook, to tell what you believe on Facebook,” Manigault said.

Tomi Lahren, a host on The Blaze, made a cameo appearance saying she and the Trump campaign put together the Facebook Live event because they were tired of the “mainstream media dictating all the debate coverage,” describing the press as Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s “largest super-PAC.” In this format, she said, she could share her thoughts unfiltered, which she certainly did.

“Even if you don’t think Hillary is a corrupt, lying sack of crap, you have to admit that she is going to just be more of the same,” Lahren said. “And if that’s what you want, four more years of what we’ve seen under President Obama, then by all means, vote for her.”

The guests’ unified message was that the press has offered a biased perspective on the election and that they will give conservatives a fair shake. This is consistent with Trump’s message on the stump that the press is part of a gigantic conspiracy against him and somehow rigging the election.

Before the last debate, Trump’s campaign launched a live-stream featuring women who have accused Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton, of sexual misconduct. But the latest Trump broadcast seems to be his team’s first attempt at offering his supporters the kind of real-time analysis of a major political event. They reached nearly 200,000 concurrent viewers. By early Thursday morning, the three hour and 42 minute broadcast had been viewed 8.4 million times.

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