This week, as I am sure you already know, Donald Trump did his town hall on CNN.
The broadcast garnered CNN its highest ratings in about a thousand years, hitting more than three million viewers for the first time in forever.
Kaitlan Collins was no match, getting bulldozed by Trump all night long. And when she did finally stand up to him, he ran over her again by calling her a "nasty person."
The town hall literally created an online meltdown, which was led by Rep. Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
Voice to be Heard
After the town hall, Anderson Cooper posted a video talking about how horrific Trump was, but he also stated that as the frontrunner in the GOP, Trump has a right to have his voice heard.
If I'm Licht, I fire Anderson Cooper tomorrow. And Tapper. And everyone else who is attempting to drive a mutiny. CNN will never move remotely to the middle until getting rid of the current talent who clearly has zero motivation to avoid being activists for the Democratic Party. https://t.co/TrTCztUoMA
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) May 12, 2023
Whether you like Trump or not, people need to know what he stands for going into this election. AOC does not see it that way.
As the town hall was going on, she tweeted, "They have lost total control of this 'town hall' to again be manipulated into platforming election disinformation, defenses of Jan 6th, and a public attack on a sexual abuse victim. The audience is cheering him on and laughing at the host," reports Fox News.
"This falls squarely on CNN. Everyone here saw exactly what was going to happen. Instead they put a sexual abuse victim in harm's way for views. This was a choice to platform lies about the election & Jan 6th w/ no plan but to have their moderator interrupted without consequence."
CNN should be ashamed of themselves.
They have lost total control of this “town hall” to again be manipulated into platforming election disinformation, defenses of Jan 6th, and a public attack on a sexual abuse victim.
The audience is cheering him on and laughing at the host.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 11, 2023
This was her response after the fact…
MSNBC contributor Charlie Sykes also went nuts over the town hall, stating, "The format was impossible and CNN's bosses should have known that. Chris Licht is rapidly becoming the Elon Musk of CNN."
The Trump camp loved it, claiming complete victory. Democrats hated it. But we knew that was going to happen.
The only question now that matters is how did the independents and moderates feel about it? They are the voters that are going to decide this election.
Did Trump lure them back in or did he alienate more people?
Trump is polling very well in the primary race, but after the E. Jean Carroll verdict, he went from leading Joe Biden by seven points to trailing him by one.
Ron DeSantis has yet to enter the race, but that is probably going to happen very soon. He is being lapped by Trump right now, but I think that race will tighten up once DeSantis is formally in the race.
Even so, he has a lot of ground to make up to even get into the conversation at this point.
So, as I have asked many times, that burning question as we head into the 2024 election… can Trump win a general election if he dominates this primary race? Because if he wins the primary and loses this election to Joe Biden, there is no recovery from this.
Even if Republicans win both the House and Senate again, in terms of Biden policies, we are status quo for four more years, and I don't think the country can survive that.
I am very much looking forward to this primary to see how it plays out. It is going to be one hell of a fight. So I say to DeSantis, stop messing around… if you are getting into this fight, get into it, and let's settle it. May the best man win.
