CNN ‘Extremely Triggered’ By New Trump ‘American Comeback’ Ad and Demands They Stop Using ‘Distorted’ Clip

Yesterday, The Trump campaign released an ad titled “American Comeback.” It offers hope for the future while showing clips celebrating healthcare workers and of praise that had been given for the job the President has done fighting the Coronavirus.

One part of the ad includes a clip of a discussion between CNN’s chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta and “The Situation Room” host Wolf Blizter on his program in late March.

CNN took issue with the clip and sent a cease-and-desist letter to the campaign over what it describes as a “false, misleading and deceptive” use of the network’s coverage.

The campaign responded on Twitter by saying, “CNN is EXTREMELY triggered by this new ad!” They said it would be a “shame” to keep “sharing it.”

CNN is EXTREMELY triggered by this new ad! It’d be a shame if we kept sharing it…

CNN is EXTREMELY triggered by this new ad!

It’d be a shame if we kept sharing it…

pic.twitter.com/XPSOYOVvwr

— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) May 5, 2020

In the full exchange, Blitzer asked Gupta, “Well, is it accurate that if these steps had not been put in place, the stay at home orders, the social distancing orders, as the President said yesterday, it could have been 2 million people down here in the United States?”

Gupta offered a long-winded response, but ultimately agreed, “I mean, you know, these are all models, Wolf. It’s a little tough to say, but, you know, if you talk about something that is spreading, you know, very robustly throughout a community. You know, two to three times more contagious than flu, and up to 10 times, perhaps even more than that, more deadly than flu, then yes.”

The ad features an edited portion of the moment, cutting out only the examples in the initial question by saying, “Is it accurate that if these steps had not been put in place … it could’ve been 2 million people dead here in the United States?” 

They then cut out all of the additional conjecture by Gupta and show him answering, “Yes.”

The letter says that “purposely and deceptively edits the clip to imply that Mr. Blitzer and Dr. Gupta were crediting the President’s travel ban policy issued in January for saving millions of American lives, when in fact Mr. Blitzer and Dr. Gupta were discussing recently implemented social distancing guidelines and stay-at-home orders issued by state and local governments.”