The eye of the beholder: Trump appears in Town Hall on CNN last night
I didn’t watch it. I assume Trump was Trump, with the usual pluses and minuses.
Here’s Roger Kimball on the evening’s festivities:
On and on it went. Collins playing Whac-A-Mole, Trump declining to be whapped. There were no moments like Hamlet’s duel with Laertes when Gertrude could exclaim, “A hit! “A palpable hit!” CNN considerately invited only Republicans and independents join in the event. Considered as a point of fair play, that was as it should be. Niccolò Machiavelli would have deprecated the decision. The audience was clearly sympathetic to Trump, its questions uniformly respectful.
Once again, the media industrial complex underestimated the man they love to hate. They feel nothing but disdain and contempt for Donald Trump, and they assume — falsely — that the voters will, too, if only they get to see the man in action.
The tweeter who said that the event guaranteed a landslide victory for Trump in 2024 overstated the case. It by no means guarantees that he will be the Republican candidate, let alone that he would win the general election. But as a measure of political virility, it revealed that, as of May 10, 2023, Donald Trump is by far the most vital and potent candidate on either side of the aisle.
That could change, of course…I suspect that the only thing that is certain in this race so far is what last night’s event meant for CNN. It was, as a column in the Hill put it, “a disaster.”
In response to Kimball’s statement that the people at CNN “feel nothing but disdain and contempt for Donald Trump, and they assume — falsely — that the voters will, too, if only they get to see the man in action,” I think it goes much much further. They also feel secure in their own brilliance and tactical finesse, and they believe that they will be able to trap him and make him look bad. And to a great many voters in America, that is what happens and what happened last night on CNN. Disdain and contempt emerges or does not emerge depending on the eye of the beholder as well as the frame through which he or she looks.
Does the left think Trump acquitted himself well? Not to hear them tell it. Of course, that could be bravado on their part, but they also have enormous faith in their own ability to convince the public of whatever they tell them. And if they label Trump’s appearance a disaster for him, most MSM readers – who, after all, didn’t watch it – will conclude that it was exactly that. And even if they watch it, they do so through the filter of years of Trump-contempt.
For example, the Daily News – which seems to be unwilling to stop sending me links, despite my attempts to unsubscribe – has this headline: “Donald Trump’s ‘disastrous’ CNN town hall elicits strong reactions”:
Donald Trump’s combative CNN town hall elicited strong reactions from viewers, celebrities and political insiders, many of whom were disgusted by the former president reasserting false claims the 2020 election was stolen and hurling insults at abuse accuser E. Jean Carroll…
“The predictably disastrous @cnn town hall was indeed disastrous,” tweeted Mark Lukasiewicz, the dean of Hofstra University’s communications school. “Proving again: Live lying works. A friendly MAGA crowd consistently laughs, claps at Trump’s punch lines — including re sex assault and Jan 6 — and the moderator cannot begin to keep up with the AR-15 pace of lies.”…
Film director Rob Reiner wrote Trump is “a Liar, a Criminal, and is mentally ill.”
“It was disgraceful on every level,” said Joe Scarborough, who co-hosts “Morning Joe” on MSNBC. “I wouldn’t say it’s dangerous for democracy because we passed that a long time ago, but it showed the corrosive effects of Trump-ism over eight years. I’ve got to say, the most shocking part was anaudience who cheered on a president who tried to overturn American democracy. An audience that mocked and ridiculed a woman who a jury of her peers, Donald Trump’s peers, found had been sexually assaulted.”
More in that vein at Time.
They are terrified of the Truth.
Which is why they have to SQUELCH it at every turn…disparage it, mock it, trash it, hide it, throw mud at it ceaselessly…while deftly and sedulously inventing a different truth—different truths, that is, according to the need at hand— to take its place, which they then broadcast far and wide 24/7/52.
There’s a word for that.
Several, in fact.
Speaking in terms of the general election I don’t imagine this event moved the needle one way or the other at all. Obviously people who love Trump will continue to love him and people who hate him will continue to hate him. I highly doubt anything changed in the grand picture.
But it’s difficult to say if last night changed the landscape of the primary or not. Did Trump manage to convince a few lapsed fans, fence sitters, and/or DeSantis leaners to come back to the fold with last night’s performance? Perhaps. But such people could easily be swayed over to DeSantis at a later time depending on how events unfold over the next several months.
Although I had no interest in watching it live, I was fascinated by the reaction from the left (and especially by AOC’s fury at CNN). Judging from various clips, I would venture to say that Trump acquitted himself rather well, especially over the lies from the MSM concerning J6 and the supposedly “free and fair” election of 2020; it was also interesting to sense the positive reaction from the crowd when the unimpressive young K Collins pressed him about victory for Ukraine and he wisely responded that his desire is that the carnage should end as quickly as possible.
I didn’t watch the whole thing live but saw part of it and watched many more highlights today. People who hate Trump are obviously appalled that he thinks E. Jean Carroll is a nut, that he denies inciting an insurrection and that he still thinks the 2020 election was stolen. But the thing that worries them is that there are still plenty of people in the country who agree with Trump on every one of those points and it was obvious that last night’s performance wasn’t going to do anything to dissuade potential Trump voters. Quite the contrary.
I thought Trump completely dominated poor Kaitlan Collins who seemed to be in over her head. She reminded me of a too earnest high school debater who was sure that she was making wonderful points and couldn’t understand why the audience just didn’t get it. I think it provided a very useful example of the chasm between the ordinary people who support Trump, despite his flaws, and the elite media who are always sure that now they have finally got Trump and are bewildered that he is still standing.
Trump is not so much a cause of what’s been happening over the last 7 years, he’s more of the occasion or sometimes the symptom.
People who supported Obama shaped Obama into their hopes, without much regard for who the man really was. People who oppose Trump do something similar with their hates and fears, and again without much regard for who the man really is.
I mean look at the stuff we heard. He’s a dictator and he’ll shut down the free press. He was going to get us into nuclear war. He’s suffering from dementia. He told us to drink or inject bleach. He said Nazis were fine people. He confessed to sexually assaulting actresses. He said he would shoot people on Fifth Avenue. He tried to overturn the election and he incited people to storm the Capitol.
Literally none of that was true.
Do you have a receipt?
Yes, as a matter of fact. Yes I do!
Receipts come in handy sometimes.
The mainstream media suffers from two maladies that go together: extreme stupidity and extreme dishonesty. It’s the stupidity that leads them to think they can get away with the dishonesty.
The “moderator” last night was ill prepared. Was she born ill prepared? I think not, but how she got that way is something she will likely never ask herself. It’s the stupidity (lack of self reflection) you see.
An “interesting” response from Jim Geraghty, an NR columnist I’m not generally crazy
about….
“Trump’s TKO against CNN”—
https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/trumps-tko-against-cnn/
H/T Powerline blog.
The Left went all apoplectic because CNN removed from them the carefully crafted—and guarded—wall-to-wall control that they’ve had and which they’ve persuaded themselves they NEED to shape their narrative and shield, i.e., “protect”, the nation, for the nation’s own good, of course, from opinions that THEY have decided the people should NOT hear…
Eye of the beholder?
OK; but actually, it’s a question of POWER (once again) which the Democrats believe they must acquire and KEEP at all costs, which is why they are destroying the country (cf. “Lord of the Rings”).
CNN just gave Trump a get-out-of-jail card FREE, which he proceeded to exploit!
The only question remaining is whether CNN CEO Chris Licht will be able to remain in his job after this fiasco of what is essentially free speech that the Democrats DO NOT want to hear. (It’s delicious hearing all those creeps decry Trump’s constant lying! No sense of self there; no self-knowledge, NONE!)
The backlash has been brutal and will gain steam.
ONE CAN’T BE EVEN-HANDED in the jungle that the Democrats have created for the country…and for themselves.
I’m surprised that so literate a man as Kimball would make that particular misattribution of the Hamlet quote. Unless there really was some edition of it that had that line, which I guess I can’t rule out, not being a Shakespeare textual critic; but I’ve never seen that in the text.
Congressman Byron Donalds, Florida, versus seven (7) CNN talking heads. TKO
I agree with what you said and add it’s descended to I like my SOB more than your SOB.
Philip Sells, in my copy, Hamlet, Act V, Scene ii, line 292 or thereabouts.
https://www.allgreatquotes.com/hamlet-quotes-380/
It’s the stupidity that leads them to think they can get away with the dishonesty.
I like to think that’s a quite pithy summary of the situation. But it’s not exactly true, because they keep getting away with it. Does that mean they’re not so stupid? I hate to think of what that would mean.
“it’s descended to I like my SOB more than your SOB.” Sennacherib
Wherein the difference between the two SOBs lies is that one of them wants to save the nation that elected him, while the other is happy to work with those who are working to destroy that Nation.
The media has invested so much energy in their shrill and intemperate rage over Trump, that they have sensitized themselves to the point of an uncontrollable allergic reaction every time the Trump strawman is evoked. And then, for some reason, they think the appropriate strategy is to attack the strawman they created, instead of a calm and rational debate with the actual man. He simply slips to the side and counter-punches with the next outrage. It’s dumbfounding to watch this repeated time and time again.
And on the other end, the press has become so accustomed to providing tongue baths to Progressive Democrats, that they have become lazy, even incompetent as journalists. I bet if you asked 50 Legacy Corporate Mainstream Media journalists to concisely summarize the Top 20 most important issues affecting American society today, you would get a wide variety of suggestions on ‘Approved Narratives’ and very few of them would be defensible positions in front of a hostile (but polite) conservative crowd of normal people that go to work every day.
I didn’t watch it, but saw a clip or two.
}}} who co-hosts “Morning
JoeHo” on MSNBCYou seem to have used a kinda sorta Hispanic spelling for “Ho”.
Fixt it fer ya.
De Nada. <————- Is this “cultural appropriation”?**
————
** To see the world’s smallest violin in action, answer that question in the positive.
😀
}}} People who supported Obama shaped Obama into their hopes, without much regard for who the man really was. People who oppose Trump do something similar with their hates and fears, and again without much regard for who the man really is.
And if you consider it, you’ll realize, they are mostly the exact same idiots.
What happened to CNN in that town hall? CNN employees didn’t like it.
Anderson Cooper boiled it down to one word: “Butthurt”
See, they thought they had done that DEMONIZATION thang so incredibly well, so professionally, so creatively, so DROP-DEAD EFFECTIVELY that they wouldn’t have to bother anymore.
(Not that it ever stopped them, mind you.)
But after this, it looks like it’s back to the drawing board….
(Not that anyone should worry. They LOVE TO DEMONIZE! Makes ’em feel worthy, I guess. Moral. Virtuous! The point being is they CAN call the people they’re ruthlessly demonizing “Fascists”…or worse.)
By the way, WRT the incomparable Anderson Cooper, what might a network do with an employee who tells his audience that they’re absolutely right if they decide NOT to watch the network he works for any more?
(Remember, we’re talking about CNN.)
@Barry Meislin:WRT the incomparable Anderson Cooper, what might a network do with an employee who tells his audience that they’re absolutely right if they decide NOT to watch the network he works for any more?
Cooper is Gloria Vanderbilt’s son so likely he’s indifferent to how he’s employed.
Cooper is Gloria Vanderbilt’s son so likely he’s indifferent to how he’s employed.
==
Huh? She left an estate of about $2.5 million. IIRC, his brother Stan got her personal property and her real estate, AC got the rest. Cooper is indubitably quite wealthy, but that’s consequent to the habit of broadcasting networks paying exorbitant salaries to a favored few.
But is the point how wealthy he is? Or WHAT his salary is?
He’s basically told his audience: “Go ahead and boycott the company I work for. You would be RIGHT to do so. I understand TOTALLY!”
OTOH, I suppose he might be getting a real kick out of his brutal “Honesty” and his incomparable “Virtue”, the message essentially being that Trump is so DIABOLICAL that this Town Hall episode justifies shutting down CNN** for allowing Trump to air his views in public.
How’s THAT for VIRTUE!!
(BTW, has anyone else been wondering why all these people are so upset? Were they FORCED/OBLIGED/COMPELLED to watch that particular Town Hall?…Ah, but that’s not the point, is it?…)
** If it should happen, which is unlikely—but then look at what happened to Bud Light…as a cautionary tale (not that the two cases are exactly similar).
All I’ll say is:
Can you imagine Brandon going on Fox to do a ‘town hall’, where he would be peppered with hostile ‘gotcha’ questions over and over. You can’t. No one can.
That fact alone speaks volumes
Can you imagine Brandon going on Fox to do a ‘town hall’, where he would be peppered with hostile ‘gotcha’ questions over and over?
It would give me a sick satisfaction to see him melt down and threaten/assault the questioner.
The big take away to this can be summed up as follows. According to the left a lie is an opinion they disagree with.