Newsmax’s Trump-fluffing campaign has extended to correspondent John Gizzi, who spent a particularly lazy Feb. 25 article asking young volunteers for Trump’s campaign why they love the guy so much:
It has often been conjectured that if younger voters turn out in large numbers, the odds on Donald Trump unseating Joe Biden will drop dramatically.
The former president’s seeming dismissal toward youth-embraced issues such as climate change, not to mention his opposition to legalized abortion and his demeanor, the argument goes, are strong reasons that a “youth-quake” of voters will finish him.
So, in noticing a large contingent of University of South Florida interns for the Trump campaign at its Columbia, South Carolina headquarters on the day of the Palmetto State’s presidential primary, Newsmax decided to ask just what motivated them to work for the candidate who is easily the most controversial among many of their contemporaries.
Unsurprisingly, the students sounded a lot like they were repeating campaign talking points, as one would expect from campaign volunteers who already have a clear pro-Trump bias:
“He has the power and influence to make the U.S. a superpower again,” said freshman Olivia Borek. “I am most interested in international relations and I think President Trump would know best how to deal with the world situation.”
Borek’s fellow freshman Grace (she did not want to give her last name) explained she was “very interested in the process and was especially focused on the issues of border security and the economy. I agree with his policies on those issues and I like him personally.”
“He’ll put our nation first,” said Valaria, a USF senior who also requested we not use her last name. “He’s restored our sense of nationality and get our priorities right.”
Ellie Barton, a junior, recalled how “in Trump’s first term, gas prices were at $1.17 a gallon and then they shot up when Biden came in. Trump will be good on energy and I hope he finally opens up the Keystone XL pipeline.”
Steve Brown, who is study at USF after a stint in the U.S. Navy, said: “I am working for Donald Trump because he made my life better when I was in the service. He took special interest in the plight of veterans and was in the process of overhauling the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“Where one sometimes had to wait 30 days to get an appointment with VA, Trump was in the process of cleaning things up. Now, under Biden, the VA is failing veterans and veterans are killing themselves at a higher-than-ever rate. Trump will take care of veterans.”
Of course, in his rote, uncritical repetition of those talking points, Gizzi comes off as a Trump campaign surrogate himself.