GOP Unveils ‘Dedication To America’ Plan With Inventory Movies Of Russia, Ukraine

Home Republican leaders on Friday unveiled their “Dedication to America” agenda for 2023 ― and with it, an inspirational video stuffed with scenes offered as distinctive imagery of America that have been really inventory footage from Russia and Ukraine.

The GOP’s video, “The Preamble to the Dedication to America,” opens with a narrator highlighting points of what it means to be an American.

“We rejoice the wealthy heritage of the American story and the vibrancy of the American Dream,” the voice says, over footage of a drilling rig at dawn.

However this video snippet, an obvious nod to America’s pure sources, wasn’t filmed in America. It’s inventory footage created by Serg Grbanoff, a filmmaker primarily based in Russia.

Grbanoff instructed HuffPost that he filmed this scene in Russia’s Volgograd area. Right here’s a screenshot of the picture within the Home Republican leaders’ video, versus an unique shot on Shutterstock’s web site:

Home Republicans used inventory footage of a drilling rig in Russia of their video celebrating their imaginative and prescient for America in 2023.

Shutterstock/Home Minority Chief Kevin McCarthy’s YouTube Web page

It’s not the one occasion the place Grbanoff’s work seems within the GOP’s video celebrating America.

In one other scene, a boy is seen smiling and operating in a area with a toy airplane. The phrases “Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” seem on the display, a reference to the Declaration of Independence.

This clip was additionally created by Grbanoff, and in addition filmed within the Volgograd area. Right here’s a screenshot of the picture within the GOP’s video versus an unique shot on Shutterstock’s web site:

Here’s a boy holding a toy airplane who seems in a video from Home Republicans celebrating American exceptionalism. This boy was really filmed in Russia.

Shutterstock/Home Minority Chief Kevin McCarthy’s YouTube Web page

At one other level within the Home Republican leaders’ video, they take a shot at Democrats on the economic system.

“Democrats have led America off observe,” the narrator says. The phrases “Crippling inflation and rampant crime” seem on the display, over a shot of a girl strolling by a grocery retailer.

The video from Home Republicans additionally featured this lady strolling by a European grocery retailer.

Home Minority Chief Kevin McCarthy’s YouTube Web page

However that is footage from a European grocery retailer. In the event you look carefully on the screenshot, you possibly can see a tag hanging on one of many retailer cabinets that claims “AKCIA,” a Slovak phrase that means “motion.” Informally, “AKCIA” is used to designate gross sales in Slovakian shops.

Home Republicans virtually actually used imagery from Ukraine of their video about America, too.

The video features a clip of a farmer carrying a bag on his shoulder in a area of corn, because the phrases “And the vibrancy of the American Dream” seem on the display.

Republicans virtually actually used video footage from Ukraine of their video celebrating America.

Home Minority Chief Kevin McCarthy’s YouTube web page

That is additionally inventory footage sourced from a Shutterstock contributor, DedovStock. The person featured within the clip works for DedovStock, and has a web page of his work on its web site. His web page options pictures of him in Ukraine and the Carpathian Mountains, which stretch by Ukraine and components of Japanese Europe.

A spokesperson for Home Minority Chief Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark as to why GOP leaders rolled out their plan for America with a video that includes inventory footage from Russia.

Originally published at San Jose News HQ