Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event at the DoubleTree Manchester Downtown on Thursday, April 27, 2023, in Manchester, NH.
Jabin Botsford | The Washington Post | Getty Images
CNN still has a Donald Trump problem.
Under the leadership of new CEO Chris Licht, the cable news network wants to reimagine itself as a no-nonsense, politically down-the-middle product since Discovery’s merger with WarnerMedia last year.
Wednesday’s 70-minute town hall with Trump, moderated by anchor Kaitlin Collins, was CNN’s first big opportunity since the change of ownership to showcase itself as a network of facts. Licht told CNBC last year the network wants to hear from both Democrats and Republicans, but it won’t allow people to come on and say it’s raining when it’s not.
Trump has a history of peddling election fraud lies — an example of saying it’s raining when it’s not. But instead of forcing Trump to stay within the bounds of the truth, the town hall set up a dynamic where Trump ran roughshod over Collins, who repeatedly attempted to keep him from lying throughout the hour-plus event.
Collins gamely pointed out throughout the event when Trump was veering into fantasy land. That may have worked journalistically – had it not been for the fact that CNN inexplicably allowed a partisan audience to cheer on Trump’s running commentary throughout the event. The effect of the raucous crowd turned the town hall from a potentially probing interview into a de facto Trump rally, undermining Collins’ attempts at holding him to task.
At one point, bothered by Collins’ consistent attempt to tether Trump to the truth, Trump called Collins “a nasty person.” The crowd cheered.
Collins spent the first 20 minutes of the town hall discussing his refusal to back off election fraud claims, which have been consistently debunked by courts, election experts and even several prominent Republicans. She took a question from an audience member who asked if Trump would “suspend polarizing talk…
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