October 14, 2019

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.

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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