Friday on CNN’s “The Situation Room,” network political commentator Alyssa Farah Griffin said an ad from the Trump administration paid for by the U.S. government that criticizes communism is something you would see in China or Iran.
Farah Griffin said, “There’s been quite a bit of criticism of just the degree to which the president and the White House are wanting to really celebrate the Chinese president. Whether it’s the president greeting him at the airport when he arrived, something that was not an honor that the Chinese government had given to President Trump. Whether it was literally rolling out the red carpet, when you know that there are human rights abuses taking place, you know there are people who are being held as political prisoners in China. There’s the Uyghur Muslims who have been detained and abused and some really horrific things happening. It’s an odd moment when we’re trying to signal what American values are, and I’m not sure that they’re coming across in this summit.”
Host Wolf Blitzer said, “We’re following this sensitive story, this new video spot that he Trump administration is calling a public service announcement, a PSA.”
After playing the ad, Blitzer asked, “What’s your initial reaction to this commercial? American taxpayers are paying to have it broadcast on various TV networks?”
Farah Griffin said, “I’ve never seen anything like it in America, where tax dollars are essentially doing state propaganda on behalf of the federal government. Listen, it’s one thing when this White House wants to do hype videos on Twitter, I think they have every right to do that. I think that’s within the realm of normal political speech. But to be paying to put ads on the air that are essentially touting the U.S. government feels very, very similar to something you’d frankly see in China, in Iran, and in other, much more repressive regimes.”
Blitzer said, “In North Korea as well.”
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