Why Anti-Trump Voters Should Be Celebrating the CNN Town Hall

Background:

CNN aired a town hall interview with Donald Trump this past Wednesday night and is facing immense criticism from all sides for seemingly providing the former president with a platform to perpetuate his “spectacle of lies.” The interviewer, American journalist Kaitlan Collins, asked Trump a variety of contentious questions that included topics such as the 2020 presidential election, the January 6 capitol insurrection, the Roe v Wade decision, the debt crisis, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the E. Jean Carroll lawsuit, to name a few. Trump’s seized his opportunistic position with the MAGA-infested audience to respond in a defensive and mendacious manner, inciting the backlash against CNN. He refused to concede defeat in the 2020 election by continuing to call it “rigged” and “stolen.” He stated he doesn’t know E. Jean Carroll and the case is merely a “stunt” to damage his campaign. He called January 6 a “beautiful day.” He advocated for congressional Republicans to allow for a default even though when he was in office, raising the ceiling was a non-negotiable. He asserted that if he wins the presidential election, the war in Ukraine would be over in “24 hours” and that if he had been president at the time of its commencement it “never would have happened.” He even called Collins a “nasty woman” when feeling threatened by her provocative questioning. Despite the opposition to its airing, CNN’s chairman has continued to support the decision to host the town hall on the basis that it is improper to silence the undisputed GOP frontrunner and potential 2024 presidential election victor due to political disdain, and has situated his argument against the backdrop of our nation’s fundamental democratic principles.

Opinion:

Although it must be conceded that CNN constructed the Trump town hall in a manner that was concerningly advantageous to the former commander-in-chief, their decision to host the event generally speaking is as easy to defend as cutting through butter with a warm knife. The principal defense lies in the notion that CNN is a media company whose intrinsic purpose is to provide information to the public, not to educate them on how to dissect or interpret said information. The 2024 presidential election lies just around the corner and despite the legal issues and the hurricane of controversy associated with him, Trump is the GOP frontrunner, and based on current polling, it would not be surprising if he reclaims the presidency in 2024. The fact is that Trump won’t be disappearing any time soon and neither will his pervasive falsehoods. Because his voice will be heard one way or another, it is not CNN’s job to silence it but rather to present it through an objective lens, providing the American people with the opportunity to recognize his chaotic nature for themselves and render him unelectable. Anderson Cooper validated trumps enduring presence on his show when he stated that viewers “have every right to never watch this network again, but do you think that staying in your silo and only listening to people you agree with is going to make that person (Trump) go away?” As disturbing as it is, Trump is the prime candidate for the GOP presidential nomination for 2024, and CNN’s town hall merely reminded voters of his unruliness that they may have forgotten during his absence from the spotlight. CNN is an openly partisan news outlet yet despite this, it’s still critical that they provide an overhead view on many issues so as to retain credibility. You can’t report on the 2024 presidential election and avoid Donald Trump; His presence is inevitable. Regardless of any dismissive, aggressive, or even flat-out false remarks he may have made during the Town Hall, under the 1st amendment Trump’s voice has the right to be heard (exclusive of various exemptions), so who is the media to attempt to censor it?

It was definitely disturbing to witness the crowd's applause at his deceitful claims, most notably when he reaffirmed that he had never met E. Jean Carroll and that the 2020 presidential election was undoubtedly "rigged." Both statements have been proven false without any level of uncertainty. His ignorant and ill-informed advice to congressional Republicans to let the federal government default on its debt should also be highlighted. It not only portrays his arrogance but also his commitment to winning the elitist political battle at any cost, even to the detriment of countless ordinary people whose views he claims to hold sacred as the “populist” candidate. But of course, the Trumpie-infested audience hooted and hollered in approval at all of these misleading claims, providing a sense of false validity to his malevolent remarks. Trump has an undoubtedly extensive and extremely loyal support base, and these loyalists treat his every word as Puritans of the early colonial days treated bible scripture; It is their North Star. It is perfectly understandable to be upset by Trump’s antagonistic town hall performance, but gunning for CNN’s throats is undoubtedly not. Critics of the town hall are attempting to hold CNN accountable as if CNN themselves proliferated the falsehoods and not Trump himself, which is a completely irrational interpretation of the event. Trump controls what comes out of his mouth on live television; CNN does not.

The whole purpose of the town hall was to shed light on the fact that Donald Trump has not changed. It aimed to give voters a taste of what they will be enduring for four more years if Trump ends up back in the oval office and contrary to most, I think Trump’s performance at the town hall represents an absolute victory for everybody in the anti-Trump camp. In anticipated fashion, Trump made a complete fool of himself on national television by lying and failing to provide evidence (other than with respect to the Jan. 6 question, which was admittedly a Trump win) to back his defensive assertions and misguiding opinions on the political phenomenon in question. Trump’s charisma shone brightly during the town hall in large due to the sympathetic audience, but nonetheless, his shorthanded remarks were a blatant and pathetic attempt to cover up his lack of evidence-based reasoning and avoid exposure by Collins. Trump’s arrogant and mendacious responses did much of the heavy lifting for Collins in that they exposed his disqualification for the presidency by themselves. To anybody besides Trump loyalists, whose view of the former commander-in-chief is virtually untaintable by any measures, the town hall shed light on his lack of maturity and subsequent incapability to lead our country.

The town hall achieved exactly what many Trump critics had hoped and anticipated. It proved that despite his exile from the mainstream media sphere, rather than reflecting on his wrongdoings and evolving both as a person and a politician, he’s proven himself the same chaotic train wreck we righteously left behind in 2020. This revelation is integral to a Democratic victory in the 2024 presidential election. Not exclusively MAGA Republicans, but the entirety of the GOP has expressed an abundance of discontent with the Biden administration. Anti-Trump members of the Republican Party are likely to throw their support behind Trump in the likely event that their candidate fails to triumph in the primaries, which could spell the end of Biden’s already dwindling chances at re-election. The main point here is that this sizeable portion of the GOP does not support Trump... They merely despise Biden to an even greater degree and thus for the greater prosperity of their party, would be willing to vote Trump into office to ensure that a Democrat doesn’t occupy the position for another four years. These voters are likely optimistic that Trump has evolved as a candidate during his time out of office and primarily for this reason would be willing to give him a second shot. However, if Trump continues to be provided with opportunities, like the CNN town hall, to embarrass himself, display his authentic character, and prove that he has not changed a single bit, he is likely to alienate this vital portion of Republican voters and surely fail in the general presidential election, even if he eeks out a victory in the GOP primary. Trump embellishes himself as an authoritative solution to overthrow a radically liberal political establishment. Arrogance and holding true to claims even after being disproven is integral to his appeal, one that is utterly paradoxical; His unruly antics simultaneously attract and repel voters, yet he must tip-toe a fine line to ensure the number of voters he repels doesn’t surpass those he attracts. I truly believe that the more of Trump the public sees, with the exception of radical Trump loyalists, the more they will realize that he is undeserving of the privilege to serve as president of our beautiful nation. For this reason, more air time for the former commander-in-chief is ironically essential to denying him access to the keys to America.

Sure, Trump lied on the town hall which was hosted by CNN. But this doesn't mean that CNN lied, Trump did, and that’s how people need to understand the situation. Rather than condemning CNN for providing Trump a platform to perpetuate his nonsense, critics need to praise them for allowing Trump to display his buffoonery to the country. He has been silenced for so long that it seems people have misremembered his flamboyance and lack of political prowess, which could be contributing to his immense support in the incipient election race. CNN didn’t expose Trump during the town hall, Trump exposed himself, and I think continuing to connect him with the country so that he can display himself in his genuine and rawest form is exactly what's needed to keep the white house out of his grasp in 2024. No extrinsic effort is needed to undermine Trump’s campaign; He himself is a ticking time bomb that, given enough time in the spotlight, will undoubtedly self-destruct. The only role critics need to play is the same role CNN did by hosting the town hall -- Trump will crash his campaign right into a wall (pun intended) on his own accord, and the media’s only job is to hand him the steering wheel.