Trump TV gets off to a rocky start with tiny viewership and vicious mockery

The White House debut of Trump TV, launched amid the administration’s feud with the mainstream media, was widely mocked online and compared to state-run television in North Korea and China.

Critics of the new livestream , which streams 24/7 on the official White House YouTube channel, also pointed to its low viewership at launch.

The administration teased Trump TV Monday amid the fallout from barring MSNOW, CNN and Politico from the White House . In response, the outlets filed a lawsuit against the government, while ABC, Fox News, CBS and NBC suspended pooled television coverage in solidarity.

Trump administration officials have touted the TV channel as an alternative to traditional news networks.

“The press, in some cases, reported inaccurately or not at all on the Administration’s many record breaking accomplishments on behalf of all Americans,” said Kaelan Dorr, deputy assistant to the president and deputy communications director. “Trump TV is a 24/7 livestream of the Administration’s greatest hits, unfiltered.”

But at its launch Monday night, Trump TV peaked at 8,000 viewers, dipping to around 4,000, according to figures reported at the time.

Some 1,600 people were watching footage Tuesday morning from early in the second Trump administration, when the president signed an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico “Gulf of America.”

Dozens of Democrats and other critics compared Trump TV to state-run media in North Korea, China and Russia.

“First, Trump banned independent news from the White House. Now, he's launching what is quite literally state-run TV to try drowning out the fact that he and his corrupt administration are failing the American people,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom reacted in a post on X. “This is truly autocratic behavior from a failed President.”

“So, state-run media. Donald Trump is the communist,” said the Lincoln Project group.

“Days ago, Trump banned CNN, MSNOW and many others from the White House,” said liberal commentator Dean Withers. “Today, he’s announced State Ran Television. It’s official, we live in North Korea.”

Dozens of accounts responded with memes, including one showing Trump’s face superimposed on that of a North Korean state television broadcaster.

Others remarked that re-runs of old coverage do not equate to state-run media.

Journalist Juliet Jeske said that she watched three hours of Trump TV on Monday night, which she described as “just old coverage of Trump someone posted on YouTube.”