So, CNN hosted a Donald Trump town hall

[UnseenParticipant]

Some of CNN’s cable news competitors are calling the event a train wreck, disaster, or dumpster fire. My take is different.

Yes, The Orange One got an umpteenth chance to air his lies and grievances before a gigantic audience, and he was up to his old tricks of ignoring interruptions to his endless array of spiels by talking over his host’s attempts to ask a question or to get him back on topic, but this was to be expected by anyone who’s watched Trump over his election run, term in office, and since.

What we got was actually something useful: We got reminded who he is, which is a mean and vindictive agent of chaos with a particular dislike for those “nasty” people, the female  gender. Yes, he referred to Host Kaitlan Collins, whose mastery of the relevant data seemed encyclopedic, as a “nasty person” for insisting that he answer a question.

BTW, Ms. Collins did not give The Trumpster an easy ride, calling him on his lies dozens of times, often offering up the actual facts. At no time did he fluster her. Clearly, she flustered him.

We got reminded of the damage he’s done to the country, its reputation abroad, and to American women, in particular.

Trump may have been solidifying his probable role as the 2024 GOP nominee and offering his base more of the same, but at the same time he’s reminding the independent voter that if it comes to a Hobson’s Choice between a proto-fascist Trump and a barely-conscious Biden, Trump is preparing to be far worse next time around.

And if he loses, he and his advisors may have learned enough from his failed coup in 2021 to pull it off next time. Is it possible to hope that the GOP comes to its mind?

The once-upon-a-time “liberal” press and the rest of the usual suspects actually criticized CNN for presenting an actual news show. Amazing. Were mainstream and liberal cable sources honestly thinking that CNN had crossed some sort of line by actually covering news, or were they jealous of the viewership CNN was getting?

[RichRaelianParticipant]

Hello! I’am not a fan of Trump and never have been even with his current criminal charges he has to face.

[UnseenParticipant]

Jimmy Dore (the political comic everyone loves to hate) reams CNN’s critics for actually covering news with the Trump town hall. (Note: this viddy dropped before the event):

[AutumnParticipant]

Unseen wrote:

Jimmy Dore (the political comic everyone loves to hate)…

I don’t know him enough to hate him, but he comes across as insipid. The Nathan Lane joke is weird. Why make fun of glasses, and why pick Nathan Lane when that’s not the sort of thing he’s actually likely to wear?

Olbermann: The transformation of CNN into a journalistic whorehouse is now complete.
Metzger (sarcstic): Yeah, they were great until this one moment.
Dore (sarcastic): Up until now, CNN was doing some integrity field stuff just like MSNBC, Kieth? [snip] Now corporate news sucks. Before, they were great.

“…is now complete” implies things were not necessarily great before and had been in noticeable decline. The joke makes no sense.

Dore (sarcastic): He’s upset CNN is going to cover the news. There’s a guy running for president—who might become president and CNN are going to interview these people.

Reductionism. First, news outlets frequently cover news without giving the subjects of their stories publicly broadcast town halls. Second, the nature of the objection is likely due to Trump’s documented history.

Dore (sarcastic): You’re only supposed to interview people you like and you’re supposed to censor everyone else.

Not giving someone a town hall is not censoring them.

Dore: This is what he’s upset about—is that CNN plans on covering the leading candidate for president in the Republican Party. That’s what he’s upset about. This is like—this is Himmler bullshit, man. This is Goebbels stuff.

Reach. It’s this “You just hate people who think different than you” kind of nonsense. Conceivably, many could object to platforming Trump not because they don’t want to platform anyone who thinks or acts differently from them, but because of the expressed thoughts and documented actions of Trump, himself. To top it off with reductio ad Hitlerum is nonsense.

I dunno. At this point I’m checking out of the video. It’s vapid. I get they are reacting in real time, and there is some challenge in that, but for a ‘comic’ I’d expect him to be a little more on point. I dgaf about CNN or Olbermann, but this video seems to say nothing salient. The only edge I can give to Dore over Olbermann is that the latter was reading prepared remarks while the former was going off the cuff. But the criticisms don’t stack and the ‘jokes’ are weak. Hopefully this clip is not indicative of Dore’s general quality. Everyone has off days.

 

[PopeBeanieModerator]

I’ve learned to not join the masses who click on something just because Google recommends it. Out of a matter of principle now, I also don’t click on titles with superlative phrases, or even something like “The REAL truth about blah blah”, unless I’m familiar with the source. These days I often only see maybe one title out of twenty five that looks like it might have decent content. To those consistently presenting cynicism and mockery as a theme, forget it! It seems like most of their audiences are there just to enjoy outrage. (I didn’t watch the town hall, mainly because I just don’t want to hear any more from the most popular blowhard and angsty, verbal bully in America, The Original DJ McNasty.)

[UnseenParticipant]

@autumn

I get it: It’s okay for the press to take sides with lopsided presentations which favor one candidate over the other if one of them is horrible (MSNBC, for example). It’s only that journalistic impartiality (once upon a time) was a central feature of journalistic integrity. However, Trump is so bad that impartiality be damned.

I think CNN did the service of reminding both sides who Trump is while giving us a foreshadowing of President Trump 2.0 (pardoning rioters, handing Ukraine over to Russia, helping to further bury women’s rights in America, and, one can infer, staying in office in perpetuity).

[AutumnParticipant]

Unseen wrote:

@autumn I get it: It’s okay for the press to take sides with lopsided presentations which favor one candidate over the other…

So CNN gave every candidate in the Republican primaries a town hall?

[UnseenParticipant]

@autumn

Oh, you wanted them to do all the candidates all at once. It’s a wee bit early to mount that particular criticism, unless you’re desperate to come up with a criticism, any criticism.

How about let’s assess them just before the election?

• This reply was modified 3 weeks, 6 days ago by  Unseen.

[AutumnParticipant]

This has nothing to do with all candidates at once. This has to do with the absurd notion that CNN would be biased against Trump as a candidate for not giving him a town hall in a primary race that doesn’t even have finalized candidates when CNN has no articulated format for providing this opportunity equally to all candidates. It’s a bullshit argument.

Furthermore, yes, Trump should be treated exceptionally. Dore makes the Goebbels comparison to the idea of CNN not hosting the town hall unironically when the town hall itself is handing Hitler* the microphone. Propaganda matters. CNN doesn’t owe Trump a platform at this time. When the primary race picks up, they should consider how they handle his coverage given his history (if he even manages to remain eligible as a candidate). If anything, given the sensationalism that surrounds Trump, they’d need to watch not making things lopsided in his favour by giving him excess air time over other candidates who are likely to get buried in the news cycle.

*I am extending Dore’s metaphor to Nazi-era German politics, not calling Trump Hitler.

[UnseenParticipant]

This seems to be a fairly well-balanced summation.

 

[UnseenParticipant]

@autumn

Free speech isn’t just for the speech you like.

CNN is not putting its proverbial thumb on the scale in Trump’s favor. As far as I’m concerned, if Trump is the leading GOP candidate, it would be rather odd of them as a news service to deplatform him and only let pundits describe him as CNN’s critics here seem to desire.

Letting him expose his cockamamie views was relevant to one important group, independent voters. GOPers and lifelong Democrats like me, already know how we’d vote with him on the ticket. Hopefully, the independents heard enough to overcome any hesitancies over voting for a Democrat. My faith in humanity tells me most of them will do the right thing.

I’ve been watching the so-called liberals and liberal party become more and more in favor of controlling the public narrative through the suppression of opposing views, revealing a sad disbelief in the power of their counter narrative..

Hiding Trump will not make him go away or make him weaker. Letting him expose his views is the best way to beat him, and one that conforms with our espoused free speech values.

And, once again, it’s a  little soon to accuse CNN of a lack of evenhandedness favoring Trump.

[AutumnParticipant]

Unseen wrote:

@autumn Free speech isn’t just for the speech you like.

Irrelevant. Try again.

[PopeBeanieModerator]

Unseen wrote:

I’ve been watching the so-called liberals and liberal party become more and more in favor of controlling the public narrative through the suppression of opposing views, revealing a sad disbelief in the power of their counter narrative..

Why watch mainstream media at all? I didn’t watch that CNN Show. So maybe it influences some independent voters. Good.

I don’t listen to reactions from politicians, either, not even AOC. The media and political systems are broken, while outrage machines just want our clicks.  Did you personally get anything valuable out of that show? And how exactly are opposing narratives actually being suppressed? Seems like people can find any fricken narrative they want to.

[UnseenParticipant]

@Pope

Well, here’s the old pat on the back for being better than most lesser beings. If you want to feel superior to me, go ahead if that’s a good use of your time.

Why did I watch? To see what The Trumpster is up to and if he’s got more schtick.

He did, and as one pundit said, he gave Democrat ad writers a bunch of new material to work with.

He also repeated his attack on the woman who just won $6 million for his slander. She’s thinking about suing him again.

[TheEncogitationerParticipant]

PopeBeanie,

I’m sorry I pressed the report button on your post. You did nothing wrong. I just have clumsy fingers on a tiny smartphone pad. My apologies.

[Author]

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