What Should You Really Take Away From CNN’s Trump Town Hall?

Trump, unsurprisingly, bragged that he stuck it to CNN. CNN convened a panel of guests to congratulate and praise host (and former White House correspondent) Kaitlan Collins.

Virginia Kruta, The Daily Wire

CNN shocked pretty much everyone when the network offered to host a town hall in New Hampshire with former President Donald Trump — and Trump surprised everyone when he agreed to participate.

And since the event, which took place on Wednesday evening, everyone has declared victory. Trump, unsurprisingly, bragged that he stuck it to CNN. CNN convened a panel of guests to congratulate and praise host (and former White House correspondent) Kaitlan Collins.

So who are the real winners? Time will tell, but there are a few things that we would all do well to consider.

First of all, consider the likely audience. There are some Republicans who watched just because Trump was on — but there are some Republicans who outright refuse to watch CNN. There are some Democrats who watched simply because they wanted to yell at the TV — but there are some Democrats who refused to watch because CNN gave Trump a stage. As it does in almost every election, the real question boils down to independents: how many of them watched, and what did they think afterward?

Second, what did they see? Anyone watching objectively, whether they agreed with anything that was said or not, saw a stark contrast between the mental fitness of the former president and the cognitive state of the current president. People who love Trump hung on every combative moment, and people who hate him believed he was lobbing misogynistic attacks on both Collins and rape-accuser E. Jean Carroll.

Again, the question has to be asked of those in the middle. Did they hear his staunch defense of the unborn and his assertion that it’s the pro-abortion crown that is truly radical? Or did they hear him says he’d “end the war” in Ukraine and assume — like some media outlets did — that he meant he’d simply surrender Ukraine to Putin? Did they hear him shout “Drill, baby, drill” when asked how he’d bring down rising energy costs? Or did they get distracted by his repeated complaints about a “rigged election”?

And third, what about CNN? Did they gain an audience of Republicans? Did they lose an audience of Democrats? Did they change the minds of an audience of independents? Again, that’s not a question that can be answered in an immediate sense.

But there is another question that must be asked: If Democrats WANT Donald Trump to be the Republican nominee in 2024 — and so far it appears that they do — what would CNN do differently? Assume that Democrats want Trump to be nominated — because for whatever reason they seem to believe he’ll be easiest to defeat in a general election. Assume that CNN has not changed, and the powers that be want to see a Democrat, any Democrat, win. The smartest thing CNN could do based on both of those assumptions is give Trump a platform — because even if they lose a few hardcore Trump-hating audience members temporarily, they help propel him toward that primary win.

And even if it doesn’t work, CNN got one killer night in the ratings.