Trump v the Truth Review: Few Network Would Dare TV So Bold (while also) Repetitive

Above all, one must admire their commitment to the bit. Generally, the British media covered the former president’s official trip with restrained inserts placed inside scheduled news programming. Then along came one broadcaster, which chose a grand approach, junking off a full night’s schedule to broadcast an non-stop, lengthy, truth-focused, point-by-point debunking of the majority that the president claimed since beginning his second term in January.

The extensive special, titled Trump v the Truth, formed the backbone of what effectively became a full day of Trump coverage on Wednesday. Before it aired was part two of The Donald Trump Show, an unusual segment that paired an arch Come Dine With Me narration over archive footage. During the broadcast, regular hosts were replaced with a Trump impersonator who protested about their programming. In one instance, he complained about his hatred of that particular food.

Nevertheless, Trump v the Truth was always the real pull; a bold statement that not many networks would have dared to attempt. Beginning in the evening and continuing into the early morning, the show was promoted as a carefully verified fact-checking effort of more than 100 untruths that Trump has shared during his second term, in speeches, Q&A sessions, statements and social media posts.

In concept, this is an admirable example of public service journalism. In today’s climate where Trump often tries to silence the media – just this week, he initiated a huge lawsuit against a prominent publisher – so for a channel to challenge him as extensively as this may lead the way for other nations to follow.

But sitting through it all was a different matter entirely. Right from the start, the show chose to stick to an rigid approach: first we’d see a excerpt of Trump, and then plain text on screen would drily set the record straight. Video of him announcing a 1400% reduction in medication costs was followed by text reading “There’s no way reduce a price by more than 100% as a 100% reduction means the price is free”. Examples of him saying that the US is unique in having mail-in voting was accompanied by text explaining that numerous other countries permit it.

You’ll need a long time in a quiet space to shake off this …

The pattern persisted, alternating between petty inaccuracies about Trump taking credit for the word “equalize” and major distortions about the origins of the war with Russia. In these cases, one couldn’t help but hope that Channel 4 had produced a condensed version on the more serious claims. The anger you feel when faced with a big destabilising distortion – for example his frequent claims that the majority of immigrants are lawbreakers – is soon diminished by less important corrections, including a correction about the background of the individual to make that discovery. In these moments, it feels like being cornered in a tavern with the most tedious person.

Difficult to find a proper parallel for the dullness of watching Trump v the Truth. It was reminiscent of Slow TV, but with the scenic ride replaced by a real danger to global democracy. It was comparable to the old Pop-Up Videos on VH1, but with fun trivia about Madonna replaced with information about the punishment for murdering national symbols. It was, in its sheer unrelenting length, somewhat similar to being haunted by a notably scary bad dream.

But, this mind-numbing tedium was almost certainly planned. This was less a call to arms and more a grand filibustering designed to exhaust the viewer under the onslaught of Trump’s misinformation. And it succeeded. Having endured it, I want nothing more than to spend the next three months in a sensory deprivation tank until my senses returns to normal.

What remains unclear is who this was actually for. Trump supporters are unlikely to change by the fact that a overseas network spent hours drily rectifying his view on a criminal’s history. Those against him don’t need reminding that he is dishonest, and didn’t need to be kept awake all night to be informed.

Perhaps there’s a small chance that Trump himself inadvertently pressed a remote control before he fell asleep at Windsor Castle last night, and this came on, and it caused him to see the error of his ways. In that scenario, then Trump v the Truth will have been justified. Otherwise, perhaps it’s best that we consider it a admirable but unsuccessful venture.