The reviews are in: Donald Trump‘s town hall on CNN was a “total debacle,” “disastrous,” and a “spectacle of lies.” If it was on Rotten Tomatoes, the Tomatometer would be in the low teens (let’s not even consider how high the Audience Score would be). But Trump doesn’t care. He got what he wanted: a platform to spout his easily debunked disinformation, and high ratings.
“People are criticizing CNN for giving me a Forum to tell the TRUTH. I believe it was a very smart thing that they did, with Sky High Ratings that they haven’t seen in a very long time,” the former president wrote on Truth Social. “It was by far the biggest Show of the night, the week, and the month!”
The town hall drew 3.3 million viewers on Wednesday night, so Trump is half-right about one thing: CNN was the most-watched cable news network of the evening. But it was the not “the biggest Show” of the month. Or even the night. A random-ass episode of Chicago Med was viewed by 5.5 million boomers at the same time as Trump was calling Kaitlan Collins a “nasty person.”
Was it worth it for CNN to give guy who (the day before) was found liable for sex abuse and defamation (and might be sued again)? Chairman Chris Licht thinks so. “We all know covering Donald Trump is messy and tricky, and it will continue to be messy and tricky, but it’s our job,” he said, adding, “I absolutely, unequivocally believe America was served very well by what we did last night.” Trump agrees, and that’s why it was so “shameful.”
Trump Condemned For Giving Platform To CNN https://t.co/3Njd1rv2xy pic.twitter.com/ODufFiK0kN
— The Onion (@TheOnion) May 11, 2023
(Via the Daily Beast)