What this week’s CNN “town hall” proved is that right now, this is not a Republican presidential primary. It’s a Donald Trump vs. Enemy of the People Media melee.
Even during the program, which was curiously cut off 20 minutes early, journalists and Democrats were stewing. Apparently it was supposed to go a certain way, and it didn’t. Contrary to media expectations, Trump didn’t collapse under relentless pestering from the moderator, and the attendees invited by CNN weren’t impressed by it, either.
The live audience was, weirdly enough, made up of Republicans who don’t spend every waking moment in a spitting rage, forever with hate for Trump at the forefront of their minds. Unlike every journalist in Washington, they actually seemed to enjoy themselves, getting to view the former president up close and watching him perform in a dynamic environment. I use the word “dynamic” to generously describe the constant yapping from CNN chihuahua Kaitlan Collins, who facilitated audience questions, but, at the instruction of her bosses and peers, had to insert a patronizing, “No, Mr. President! You are WRONG!” at the end of every one of Trump’s answers.
Whether I think Trump performed poorly or well tells you nothing. That the media were so disappointed with the entire event says everything.
The New York Times described the affair as “tough sledding” for Collins, who “had to battle the crowd and the candidate simultaneously.”
Politico similarly wrote that CNN had put Collins in a “no-win situation.”
The Washington Post’s Erik
