I imagine a video editing suite someplace.
The lights are down a bit. A video editing tech sits hunched over a pair of large-screen computer monitors.
Behind the tech’s chair, a political consultant — let’s call him Jack — huddles in the shadows with former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney. Both are staring over the tech’s shoulder at what is being electronically assembled on the monitors.
The tech presses a button and Cheney’s recorded voice pours out of a pair of speakers.
“Donald Trump is the only president in American history who has refused to guarantee the peaceful transfer of power,” she is heard saying.
The tech adds a picture of Trump.
“Darker,” says Jack. “What?” asks the tech.
“Darker,” Jack repeats. “Darken the picture. Make him look evil, sinister.”
The tech complies. Cheney and Jack voice their approval, and the narration and visuals continue.
“He lost the election, and he knew it,” the recorded Cheney intones against Fox News coverage of election night 2020. “He betrayed millions of Americans by telling them the election was stolen.”
“How does this look?” the tech asks as he inserts a clip of Trump declaring, “Stop the steal!”
“That’s great,” says Jack. “You like it, congresswoman?”
“Yes,” she replies.
“Congresswoman?” thinks the tech. “I thought the people of Wyoming voted her out big time. What’s going on here?”
The tech remembers that the project is being paid for by something called Great Task PAC. “Whatever,” he thinks, once again focusing on his job.
“He ignored the rulings of dozens of courts,” Cheney’s narration continues. “Rather than accept his defeat, he mobilized a mob to come to Washington and march on the Capitol.”
The video cuts to scenes of people marching on Washington, D.C., streets beneath Trump and American flags.
“Great!” says Jack. “Big crowd. Big threat.”
The tech then inserts a shot of a marching but orderly group of protesters, immediately followed by an unruly bunch climbing what appears to be the Capitol steps.
The clips are short, edited together in such a way as to make it look like tens of thousands of people descended on the Capitol and began to attack it.
A crowd is seen pushing police in riot gear. The music is tense. Cheney’s narration enhances the effect: “Then, [Trump] watched on television while the mob attacked law enforcement, invaded the Capitol and hunted the vice president.”
“Wow,” Jack says to the tech. “You do good work.”
“Thanks,” says the tech. “It’s all a matter of slicing and dicing for effect. The narration is great. You write it?”
“Yeah,” Jack replies. “Thanks.”
The tech adds the sound of people shouting in the Capitol, and he mixes in more Cheney narration against an image of Trump at a podium: “He refused for three hours to tell the mob to leave.”
As the carefully edited riot scenes continue, Cheney says, “There has never been a greater dereliction of duty by any president.
“Trump was warned repeatedly that his plans for Jan. 6 were illegal. He didn’t care. And today he celebrates those who attacked our Capitol. Donald Trump has proven he is unfit for office.”
As the riot appears to intensify, Cheney proclaims, “Donald Trump is a risk America can never take again.”
The video ends, and the tech superimposes the required legal language saying that the video was paid for by the Great Task and not authorized by any candidate, blah, blah, blah.
Donald Trump has proven he is unfit for office. He is a risk America can never take again. pic.twitter.com/jAWQ6jsrzZ
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) May 9, 2023
He turns up the lights, there are handshakes all around, and Cheney and Jack thank the tech.
“Thank you for the opportunity,” he replies. “That ought to help you Democrats win.”
“Um,” Jack says, “we’re not Democrats.”
“You’re not?”
“No. We’re Republicans.”
“But — OK, whatever,” says the tech as Jack and Cheney leave and he turns to back up the file. “Republicans.”
While his job exposes him to a lot of politics, the tech is not very interested. He doesn’t care about what really took place on Jan. 6, 2021.
All he knows is that he has helped those, uh, Republicans attack the current front-runner for their party’s presidential nomination. Just another day’s work in the land of media.
And I imagine the tech thinking one more time, “But — Republicans? Is Cheney planning to run for president?
“Hmmmm.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
