The lib Twitter reactions to CNN’s Monday announcement that they’ll be holding a town hall event in New Hampshire starring disgraced former President Trump are pretty over-the-top. Of course some skepticism and unease are warranted, after all you can blame the mainstream media’s coverage much more than Russian propaganda for getting the fat orange fuck elected back in 2016.
The format they tout doesn’t do much to allay suspicions, as CNN says the live May 10th broadcast from St Anselm College will feature Trump “taking questions from New Hampshire Republicans and undeclared voters who plan to vote in the 2024 GOP presidential primary” while morning anchor Kaitlan Collins moderates. God knows what kind of pre-screening the audience members will have to go through to get a chance at the mic with the Orange God Emperor. There’s also no mention of Collins – who is no cupcake – asking Donald any questions herself, much less hard ones.
Should CNN be doing this? Probably not. But every commenter weighing in on the plans and who is maybe correctly pissed at the network over this is ignoring the more important question: Is this going to end without Trump either during or afterwards throwing a massive fucking tantrum?
Does anyone who thinks CNN is throwing Trump a lifeline realize how long it’s been since the last time Trump was outside of his MAGA media bubble, on live television, no less, where he had to face actual scrutiny? Of course CNN can and maybe even will fuck it up somehow and no matter what happens they’re going to take some heat from the Substackers over this or that softball question.
That doesn’t mean that this is going to end up a net positive for Trump’s campaign, where he’s already cruising to the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Put simply, there’s a far greater chance that this ends up being yet another disastrous shitshow on par with the first Biden vs Trump 2020 debate than it does with a sudden boost in Donald’s likability ratings among swing voters in Arizona and Wisconsin. Nobody’s going to remember why they were mad at CNN if it’s the former.