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Tiffany Trump claims in RNC speech that media and tech companies conspire to 'mentally enslave' Americans

Youngest Trump daughter echoes family and campaign claims that media is undermining conservative voices after facing criticism for spreading misinformation and bigotry

Alex Woodward
New York
Tuesday 25 August 2020 17:51 EDT
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Tiffany Trump claims in RNC speech that media and tech companies conspire to 'mentally enslave' Americans

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Donald Trump's daughter Tiffany Trump has claimed media and tech companies keep Americans "mentally enslaved" by promoting misinformation, which has "fostered unnecessary fear and divisiveness amongst us" despite the president's frequent false claims amplified by his administration.

"Why are so many in the media, in technology, even in our own government, so invested in promoting a biased and fabricated view?" she said in her remarks at the 2020 Republican National Convention. "The answer is control, and because division and controversy breeds profit."

Her speech was a sharp departure from her 2016 speech, in which she was among speakers aiming to humanise a candidate in a divisive nomination.

"If you tune into the media, you get one biased opinion or another," she said on Tuesday. "What you share, if it does not fit into the narrative that they seek to promote, then it is either ignored or deemed a lie regardless of the truth."

But the second youngest of the Trump children, much like the oldest, Donald Trump Jr, remained faithfully on message to their father's campaign and administration rhetoric against what they perceive is a media plot to suppress conservative voices, rather than private companies or campuses as well as other Americans holding others accountable for bigoted or dangerous policies and positions.

With that conceit, she introduced what the Trumps believe: freedom of thought and expression to "make your voice heard in the world," as well as "school choice" and "freedom of religion for all faiths."

"A country founded on ideas, not identity," she said.

Moments earlier, in remarks ostensibly aimed at defending the right to worship, Cissie Graham Lynch – the granddaughter of the late evangelical leader Billy Graham – invoked discriminatory, anti-transgender remarks: "Democrats pressured schools to allow boys to compete in girls' sports and use girls' locker rooms."

Tuesday's event also included short speech from student Nicholas Sandmann, who said he was "cancelled" after viral footage of an interaction between him and a Native American activist in 2019 had initially been misrepresented in the press and on social media.

"I look forward to the day that the media returns to providing responsible and balanced news coverage," he said.

In her remarks, Tiffany Trump said: "I implore you to see beyond the facade that so many other politicians employ." (In remarks as prepared for delivery, she said: "I implore you to see beyond the facade – the masks – that so many other politicians employ.")

She also appealed to Americans to "transcend political boundaries" as she made a pitch for her father's second term, and to "make your judgment based on results, not on rhetoric."

The recent law school graduate also said she can "relate to so many of you who might be looking for a job."

Former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi criticised Joe Biden and the dangers of nepotism, pointing to controversies surrounding his son Hunter Biden, which have embroiled the Bidens into the president's impeachment investigation. Tiffany Trump and Eric Trump spoke moments later.

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