CNN invited Donald Trump will lie on his airwaves for over an hour on Wednesday night. The soiree was billed as a town hall but played more like a campaign rally for the former president, who repeatedly stormed and mocked moderator Kaitlin Collins, fueling a torrent of misinformation about the 2020 election, the multiple investigations into his conduct and pretty much everything else he commented on.
A CNN insider who spoke with Rolling Stone He called the evening "appalling" and lamented that the network gave Trump "a great platform to spit out his lies."
Collins did his best to correct Trump as he spoke. And immediately after Trump went off the air, CNN anchor Jake Tapper led a parade of pundits and fact-checkers to counter his dissimulation and criticize his performance.
However, the council was "a fucking shame", in the words of another informant of the network. โ1000 percent a mistake [to host Trump]. Nobody [at CNN] Is happy."
โJust brutal,โ added one of the network's primetime producers.
A CNN spokesman defended the network's decision to feature Trump and Collins, the anchorman who tried to stop his bulldozer. Collins โexemplified what it means to be a world-class journalist. He asked tough, fair and revealing questions. And she followed and fact-checked President Trump in real time to arm voters with crucial information about his positions as he enters the race. 2024 election as the Republican favorite," the spokesman said in a statement to Rolling Stone. "That's CNN's role and responsibility: to get answers and hold the powerful to account."
But Team Trump did not seem to feel that the boss was not bound by anything. Even before the conclusion of the first hour of town hall, the reactions within Trump's circle were universally joyous. Some close associates of the former president were almost bewildered that the night passed that Good for them, according to sources inside and close to the campaign. "We want to thank CNN for their generous donation to President Trump's campaign!" a Trump adviser said Wednesday night.
โ[Trump] I literally should be doing this every night,โ an agent working closely with the Trump 2024 team said about an hour after the live event. โCNN Nightly Hits!โ
For Trump's political lieutenants, the night served as a dose of vindication for his plans and those of his staff to largely saturate the kinds of major media outlets that Republican rivals like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have shunned. largely, say people familiar with the plans. โPart of the idea is to bury Ron [in the media], and laugh at him for being so weak that he can't even stand up to CNN," says another person close to Trump. โJust completely overwhelm him.โ
The strategy is similar to Trump's previous tactics, predating his presidency, of flooding the press and tabloids with much of his presence, even (and perhaps especially) in times of scandal or crisis.
โControl the agenda,โ as put by sources with direct knowledge of Trump's previous directive.
Trump himself was no doubt energized by the hearing in New Hampshire, which CNN full of his followers. During an exchange in which Collins tried, and failed, to get him to join the war in Ukraine, or at least to condemn Vladimir Putin, the crowd cheered for his deviations. Collins finally moved on after the former president refused to provide direct answers to any of his questions, instead insisting on his hackneyed talking points about the conflict.
"The audience was packed with his voters," lamented the same CNN insider who called the evening "appalling."
The tone was set early, with Trump lying about the 2020 election results, and then just lying some more when Collins tried to back down. When Collins asked Trump if he had any regrets about January 6, 2021, Trump continued spouting election falsehoods and he bragged about the size of his crowd. โA lot of the people here were probably there,โ she said. "It was a beautiful day."
The town hall event took place just one day after Trump was found responsible for sexual assault and defamation in a civil case brought by author E. Jean Carroll. Triumph attacked Carroll and mocked the accusation to Collins on Wednesday. โI have no idea who the hell she is,โ Trump said. The audience erupted in laughter.
Carroll wasn't the only woman Trump hit on. He targeted Collins throughout town hall, accusing her of having an "agenda" and talking about her throughout the event. "You're a nasty person, I'll tell you," Trump said as Collins tried to get him to answer a question about why she was keeping classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. Again, the public burst into laughter.
"I thought she was great. Unfazed," a source told CNN. Rolling Stone of Collins's performance.
The city council was drenched in controversy from the moment CNN announced it last week. Trump has not appeared online since 2016. Since that appearance, Trump has presided over one of the most racist and demagogic presidential administrations in recent memory, overseeing a violent attempt to overthrow the democratic process while continuing to spread the lie that the US elections 2020 was stolen from him. While Trump remains the clear favorite to clinch the 2024 Republican nomination, CNN treats him as a respectable candidate and has expressed concern that his past behavior is being swept under the rug in favor of ratings in primetime.
"Putting him on stage, having him answer questions like a normal candidate who didn't get people killed in the process of trying to take down the democracy he's trying to run again, normalizes what Trump did," the former Trump official wrote. Capitol Hill policeman Michael Fanone in a opinion piece for Rolling Stone. โIt sends a message that attempting a coup is only part of the process; that accepting the election results is a choice; and that there are no consequences, neither in the media nor in politics nor anywhere else, for rejecting themโ.
Fanone, a CNN contributor since retiring from law enforcement, wrote of his "countless conversations with his employees, producers, anchors, journalists, cameramen, etc.", many of whom suffered professional and personal harassment at the hands of Trump and his associates. followers. Collins herself was a frequent protagonist in clashes between Trump and members of the media.
โOn a recent trip to CNN's Washington, DC bureau, I sat quietly in the green room as guests, anchors and employees filtered in and clamored about how outrageous it was for CBS to give Marjorie Taylor Greene an interview on her prestigious 60 minutes series. Good question? I hope my fellow CNN employees have the guts to pose those same questions to network executives," Fanone wrote.
Fanone is not alone. Adam Kinzinger, a CNN commentator and former Republican congressman, tweeted that the town hall was "an absolute joke" shortly after it ended. A CNN insider who spoke with Rolling Stone They said they hope there will be a pushback on the decision to bring Trump back on the air. They added that they "have to assume" that the move was the brainchild of new CEO Chris Licht, who reportedly moved to appeal to conservative viewers while flirting with rightists. Wednesday's town hall could have built ratings, but it didn't do so by publishing anything resembling truth, decency, or anything else that legitimate news organizations strive to convey to the public.
The last question Collins asked Trump was whether he would accept the results of the 2024 election. Trump brushed it off for the last time.
"If it's an honest choice, I'll do it," he said.
โSo not commit to accepting the 2024 election results or acknowledging what happened in 2020?โ
Trump simply waved his hand at her. Once again, the audience laughed.
