A new political action committee founded by activist athlete Colin Kaepernick’s attorney has released a scathing video juxtaposing a lofty Ivanka Trump graduation speech with images of tear-gas attacks on anti-racism protesters.
Called “Bye Ivanka,” the video splices bits of a commencement speech the first daughter prepared for Wichita State University Tech with police assaults on protesters. Plans for Trump to speak remotely to graduates were dropped by the school following criticism of her father’s militarised response to protests against the killing of George Floyd by white Minneapolis police officers. Trump posted her speech on Twitter instead.
“Your journey to this day did not come without challenges, sacrifices ... and likely even a few tears,” Trump tells grads with an unblinking gaze in the video of the speech that became fodder for Twitter critics last week.
Cue tear-gas scenes in the PAC video.
Trump continues: “Our entire society is engaged in a national endeavour to take care of the safety and well-being of our people.” That’s followed with scenes of baton attacks on protesters, an elderly demonstrator shoved to the ground by a cop, and Donald Trump calling for law enforcement to “dominate” the streets.
Not to worry, because the privileged White House aide explains in her speech that some of her “greatest personal growth” has come from “times of discomfort and uncertainty.”
The video was produced by The Meidas Touch (“Because Truth is Golden”). The progressive PAC (and video production team) was founded in April by Ben Meiselas and his two brothers. Meiselas was the lead attorney for Kaepernick’s settlement with the National Football League last year over accusations the NFL blocked him from playing as punishment for taking a knee before games to protest racism and police brutality.
The Meiselas brothers decided to put their skills and their downtime during the coronavirus pandemic to use, and have produced several political videos since launching their operation.
“We’re all Democrats, we’ve all been quarantined, and we saw the disastrous directions our country was taking,” Meiselas told AdWeek last week.
Check out “Bye Ivanka” up top.