A video shared by President Trump showing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) tearing apart the State of the Union address has amassed over 18 million views on social media despite her allies’ efforts to convince platforms to remove it.
The video, posted by the president last week, shows Pelosi tearing up the State of the Union address and highlights memorable moments of the speech, such as Trump honoring 100-year-old Tuskegee Airman Gen. Charles McGee. It has now surpassed 11 million views on Twitter, 3.1 million views on Facebook, and 4.1 million views on Instagram:
The video, titled “Powerful American Stories Ripped To Shreds By Nancy Pelosi,” has drawn criticism from Democrats, who claim it is misleading:
“Researchers say the Pelosi video is an example of a ‘cheapfake’ video, one that has been altered but not with sophisticated AI like in a deepfake,” the Associated Press reported.
Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff Drew Hammill asserted that the video was “deliberately designed to mislead and lie to the American people” and blasted social media platforms for failing to remove it.
“The American people know that the President has no qualms about lying to them — but it is a shame to see Twitter and Facebook, sources of news for millions, do the same,” Hammill wrote, adding that the refusal to remove the video “is another reminder that they care more about their shareholders’ interests than the public’s interests”:
“Sorry, are you suggesting the President didn’t make those remarks and the Speaker didn’t rip the speech?” Facebook spokesman Andy Stone asked Hammill on Twitter, reiterating that “the things featured in this video actually happened” and therefore did not violate the platform’s policy:
Hammill replied, “what planet are you living on? this is deceptively altered” and again ordered the platform to “take it down”:
A Facebook spokesperson also told Fox Business that the platform only removes media that have been “edited or synthesized – beyond adjustments for clarity or quality – in ways that aren’t apparent to an average person and would likely mislead someone into thinking that a subject of the video said words that they did not actually say.”
Twitter also did not remove the video, but a spokesman for the social media giant said that the company will begin providing warning labels reading “manipulated media” on “synthetic and manipulated media” beginning March 5.
Defendants of the video, however, say it highlights the powerful stories Pelosi ultimately tore to shreds.
“If Nancy Pelosi fears images of her ripping up the speech, perhaps she shouldn’t have ripped up the speech,” Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said over the weekend.
Proponents of the video have repeatedly defended it on social media, pointing to the fact that Pelosi, did, in fact, tear up a speech that honored American patriotism and heroes.
“Democrats are demanding Twitter take this video down. They don’t want Speaker Pelosi held accountable for publicly ripping up the President’s address, and the stories of Americans, for cheap political points,” Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) wrote:
“Nancy Pelosi wants this video taken down. She would be really mad if you retweeted it…,” Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) wrote:
“Nancy Pelosi and Democrats want this @TPUSA video scrubbed off the internet,” Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk said. “If she didn’t want people to see her rip up Trump’s speech maybe she shouldn’t have done it”:
“The Democrats only support free speech they approve,” Marc Lotter, Director of Strategic Communications for Trump’s reelection campaign, said.
“If Nancy Pelosi doesn’t like the video of her ripping up @realDonaldTrump’s State of the Union, she should have thought about that before she did it,” he added:
Pelosi engaged in damage control after her behavior at the State of the Union went viral, tweeting a note about her gratitude for Tuskegee Airmen:
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