A Gruesome Video Depicting Trump Murdering Journalists, Political Opponents Was Shown at His Resort

During the pro-Trump, American Priority conference.

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

A gruesome video depicting President Donald Trump shooting and slaying members of the media, as well as his political opponents, was played at a pro-Trump political gathering hosted at a Florida resort owned by the president this weekend.

Scenes from the video, which parodies the 2014 film Kingsman: The Secret Service, shows a fake Trump indiscriminately opening fire inside the “Church of Fake News.” The church’s parishioners are portrayed as news outlets, including CNN, Buzzfeed, Politico, CBS, the Washington Post. A string of prominent critics of the president—Sen. Bernie Sanders, Rep. Maxine Waters, the late Sen. John McCain, Rosie O’Donnell—are also featured as victims in the massacre. At one moment, Trump is depicted stabbing Hillary Clinton in the throat with a gun.

The airing of the violent images, which appear to be the work of a YouTube channel dedicated to “pissing off liberals,” come as the latest example of the president’s supporters embracing his increasingly extreme attacks against the media and political rivals. Outrage over the video spread quickly:

“That video was not produced by the campaign, and we do not condone violence,” Tim Murtaugh, a spokesman for Trump’s re-election campaign, told the New York Times, which first reported the video’s airing on Sunday. 

“We find it shocking that the New York Times would not report on any of the sanctioned events in the article,” Alex Phillips, an organizer for the event, posted on the conference’s website. “Including our panel conversation LITERALLY condemning political violence while claiming to be upset over a meme that was not sanctioned, shown on stage, or approved.” 

As Mother Jones reported last week, the American Priority conference was relocated this year to Trump National Doral Miami Golf Club in Florida after a disappointing inaugural event in DC last year. Donald Trump Jr. and Sarah Huckabee Sanders were among the high profile guests to speak at the three-day conference.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate