Last week, I had the great honor and pleasure of spending a beautiful afternoon at the White House along with roughly 225 top right-wing social media influencers, writers and commentators at the first Social Media Summit.
As soon as people who were invited shared their excitement on social media and the event was made public, the media smears began.
Attendees included Sen. Marsha Blackburn, Rep. Dan Crenshaw, YouTuber Mark Dice, Human Events publisher Will Chamberlain, singer Joy Villa, Charlie Kirk, Benny Johnson, and many more.
None of these people are particularly controversial, by normal standards — but still, BuzzFeed threatened to dox the family of Carpe Donktum, a stay-at-home dad in Kansas and meme-maker who is favored by the president. Members of the media proceeded to lose their minds over his appearance on One America News, in which their host Jack Posobiec allowed him to use a pseudonym due to threats he has received. Threats that were compounded by the media’s hostility.
CNN, clearly not overly familiar with their work (or their beliefs), confused photos of Charlie Kirk and Benny Johnson as they trashed the attendees. Many of those attending were subject to excessive scrutiny and media lies, simply for being invited.
Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono smeared against the attendees during a committee hearing on “Google and Censorship through Search Engines.”
“President Trump invited a rogues’ gallery of social media’s leading racists and conspiracy theorists to hear about supposed censorship by tech companies but none of these people have actually been banned from any platform. Each remains free to use the megaphone social media provides to spread their messages of conspiracy and hate,” Hirono said of the large group of people.
She is wrong.
The conference was a wonderful experience. As someone who works in PR, this event was a priceless networking opportunity and a moment for many people who have lost relationships, jobs and reputations in support of the president to feel appreciated.
Let’s face it, supporting President Donald Trump is one of the most controversial things that someone can do. It is a strange time when supporting the leader of our great nation is frowned upon by half of society, but here we are.
The media feeding frenzy of attempting to destroy the attendees was in itself a perfect illustration of why the summit was such a good gesture, and so necessary. The people who were invited are outspoken in support of the administration, often at great personal cost, and the media proved just how much they are risking by being so bold.
CNN contributor and Playboy reporter Brian Karem conducted his usual tough guy activist routine and caused a commotion during a Rose Garden ceremony that the summit guests attended. He referred to the diverse group of social media personalities as “demonic” and challenged Sebastian Gorka to a fight — demanding that they should “take this outside.”
Just imagine if one of the attendees or a right-wing reporter had behaved in this fashion. The media would have been calling for their head on a stick, but Karem got a full pass and his reputation was unscathed. The media passed the blame onto Gorka and just kept moving along.
In reality, Karem should be banned from the White House over this stunt, insulting guests of the president and attempting to fist fight someone in the Rose Garden. He should have been immediately removed from the event and his outlet should have fired or reassigned him. But he won’t be.
That hypocrisy, and double standard, is exactly why this summit was necessary — there is one rule for the liberal media and establishment, and a whole different set for those who support the administration.
I hope that they make the Social Media Summit an annual event for the next five years of Trump’s presidency, but next time, keep members of the lying media out.
Adam Weiss is the CEO of AMW PR, a New York political strategy and communications firm. His firm has represented Kimberly Guilfoyle, Judge Jeanine Pirro, Corey Lewandowski, David Bossie, Anthony Scaramucci and more.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.