CNN Hosts Town Hall Q&A w/DJT 8pm EST

[DCCougar]

CNN got the ratings it needed.....

And my point was, how are its ratings going to be TONIGHT? And TOMORROW night? I've turned on CNN occasionally. Never again. It showed it is just as bad as Fox insofar as publishing disinformation because it thinks it makes them more money. I say eff that.

 

[Gimmesometruth]

The dossier was a total lie paid for by Clinton and the DNC.

I'm talking about Manafort ('16) and Rudy ('19), these are not part of Steele.

That was the source used to secure the FISA warrant.

A warrant for whom? Yer burting.

Russian collusion was a lie.

No, both examples above are factual events.

Who in the Trump campaign was colluding?

Manafort, Giuliani

 

[GOP Hippo]

Inflation has hurt a lot of people and they look back longingly to Trump's break on taxes and deductions that put very modest but noticeable amount of money in individual and family pockets while giving massive breaks to corporations and banks. Those breaks for us ordinary folks will expire in 2025 while the massive corporate tax breaks will go on forever.

So what did corporate America do when they saw that Americans had a little extra money?...... they raised their prices.
"US economy: what are the 3 main causes of inflation and why does it happen?
Increased prices are being driven in the US primarily by price gouging, profit-price inflation. Companies are using the excuse of increased costs of labour, energy, and materials as an excuse to hike up prices. Wages grew at a 5% rate in 2022, nowhere near the inflation rate for basic necessities such as fuel, which grew in price by a whopping 41%."

US economy: what are the 3 main causes of inflation and why does it happen?

Inflation is likely to remain persistent throughout 2023 due to a number of reasons such as price gouging.

en.as.com

Many American's, Republicans, Democrats and Independents, especially those at the mid and lower end of the wage scale are hurting, some quite badly. Inflation has gobbled up every cent of their tax break and increased wages, if their wages increased. I come from a state where whole towns of families lost jobs to the cold reality that corporations can legally declare profitable mills bankrupt, sell off considerable assets, take the mills portable equipment, the workers pensions and severance pay and leave town owing the towns millions in taxes. As soon as the mills left town the pharmaceutical corporations moved in. Joblessness and addiction are the major rural problems, now. The same thing happened to the mining families of West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, to the woods products workers in many southern states and in the manufacturing industries of the mid west.
The greed, unmitigated lack of respect for workers and the sociopathic attitude toward society in corporate America is real and it is destructive.

Yes a guy making $50k a year will get what you call a modest break. Do you think he should see $200k back in his pocket?

The reason tax cuts are great for the economy is because the result is more money to spend. Money that was earned in the economy. More spending increases demand. Supply increases from more people working. Tax revenue goes up in a healthy economy.

Then there's the Joe Biden fiasco. His first screw up was the war on US energy. Gas/ fuel prices soared. Those increases are passed right to consumers from increased transportation costs.
Joe Biden increased money in the economy with government spending. An extra $5 trillion. That's not money earned and spent in the economy. That's money printed by the government. Demand goes up. That leaves the supply side short and prices soar. Inflation soaring. It didn't help that Biden denied inflation for months and then said it was transitory. Then he blamed Putin and tried to spend more. Throw in a big fat omnibus bill on the last day of Congress and we are screwed even worse.

 

[GOP Hippo]

I'm talking about Manafort ('16) and Rudy ('19), these are not part of Steele.

A warrant for whom? Yer burting.

No, both examples above are factual events.

Manafort, Giuliani

You don't know anything about this stuff do you?
Please tell what Manafort and Giuliani did that was colluding with the Russians to influence the 2016 election.
The FISA warrant was on Carter Page. It was total bs. The FBI had no right to secure that warrant.

 

[Gimmesometruth]

You don't know anything about this stuff do you?

irony

Please tell what Manafort and Giuliani did that was colluding with the Russians to influence the 2016 election.

You don't know anything about this and you are not reading what I have written.

The FISA warrant was on Carter Page. It was total bs. The FBI had no right to secure that warrant.

I didn't bring this up.

I really shouldn't have to post the well documented actions of Manafort prior to and during his chairmanship for the Trump campaign, his history of working directly for pro-Putin campaigns in Ukraine or his funneling foreign money to US campaigns, his involvement in modifying the GOP Policy Plank (removing anti-Russian policies), or his giving his Russian contacts inside polling data. This is just off the top of my head, not including what he was convicted of.

The same goes for Rudy and his digging up dirt in '19 with Lev and Igor...but again, its news to you.

 

[SayMyName]

Here's DJT's chance to spout his aggrievances on live tv thanks to CNN. This should dispel notions that CNN is biased.

The town hall delivered CNN its largest audience in 9 months. What could stock holders be thinking at this time..."What's Tucker doing?"

 

[RealityNow]

SOOOO angry at CNN for the debacle. It's 9:00 and I cant watch any more because Collins has NO control over this maniac. Trump is a lunatic liar and CNN f*****d up by giving him a mic, and Helix, you were right!!! He just called Collins a nasty person. GARBAGE.

I agree with you!!!

CNN NEVER should have given this Maniac air time!!! Collins could not control him, because Trump has no respect for Women. His whole attitude and demeanor was driven by his disrespect and resentment at the fact that she's a woman, asking him questions and calling him on his Bullshit....
It was a horrible move by CNN and CNN's want to elevate Collins.... made a bad choice in how to do so, by bringing this evil maniac on the show.

 

[RealityNow]

Eeek, his base loves any lie he tells. It's difficult when you have someone who is never held accountable. What they love is that he's an asshole to everyone FOR them. It's like an MMA fighter. They could care less what good comes out of his presidency. He totally blew off that guy asking about his business. Just totally dismissed his question and everyone just cheers regardless. Especially when he calls someone a name. They love that shit.

They love his name calling because that's a core part of the Trump followers mentality.

 

[RealityNow]

Here's what I know:
Gasoline is $4.37 for unleaded in Las Vegas.
When I go to the grocery store what use to be $76.86 at checkout is now $137.54

Fact up to the facts and blame GREEDY Corporate Executives and you will be on the right track to understand why we have "inflation".

 

[Integrityrespec]

Here's DJT's chance to spout his aggrievances on live tv thanks to CNN. This should dispel notions that CNN is biased.

Seems like the CNN audience liked Trump

 

[GOP Hippo]

Fact up to the facts and blame GREEDY Corporate Executives and you will be on the right track to understand why we have "inflation".

Those greedy corporations.
What about spending $5 trillion on top existing $ trillions of budget deficits. When you "print money" like that you put the unearned money right in the economy. Demand sores much faster than supply can catch up. When demand dwarfs supply then prices rise. That's where you think greedy corporations become responsible for inflation.

 

[armycowboy]

Seems like the CNN audience liked Trump

The audience was comprised entirely of Trump voters, so yeah....

 

[Risky Thicket]

Cougar,
Just to follow up on what I told you would be the result of the townhall circus. CNN got the ratings it needed. The question is will anyone respect the results of this very strange and embarrassing sideshow.

CNN's Trump town hall draws 3.1 million viewers​

Sara Fischer, author of Axios Media Trends
By the numbers: CNN's town hall reached more than 700,000 people in the critical 25 to 45-year-old advertising demo.

• That's more than four times the average number reached in the demo during its typical 8pm program hosted by Anderson Cooper.
• The town hall also gave CNN a significant boost in the 9pm through 11pm hours that followed the event.

The big picture: The program was CNN's second most-viewed single-candidate town hall since 2016, following a town hall with then-presidential candidate Joe Biden in 2020, which drew 3.4 million viewers.

• However, both events drew fewer viewers than several Trump town halls that aired on Fox News in 2016 and 2020.

https://www.axios.com/2023/05/11/cnn-trump-town-hall-tv-ratings

Unless the Trump CNN Town Hall was the beginning of a programming trend for CNN a one night viewer blip is not going to favorably influence advertising revenue for CNN. Even if the Town Hall for Trump is part of a programming trend for CNN there is no indication that CNN ratings will increase over time.

While it is my opinion that CNN made a terrible mistake by giving Trump the air time, it is conceivable that they did not. Most of the known world now knows that Trump is as crazy as a shit house rat. It is feasible that CNN made the decision to get ahead of the news: Donald Trump is either a raving lunatic (and I have long believed that he is) or he's going for the insanity defense in Mar-A-Largo, Atlanta and New York.

Perhaps CNN aired it first while it happened, while he perjured himself, while he repeatedly walked all over his own johnson live, all at once with the world watching.

Yes indeed, lost souls and dead enders unquestionably followed James Jones, Charles Manson and Adolf Hitler but most of world did not. I hope that is the angle, the risk, that CNN took. We don't know. Time will tell.

 

[upsideguy]

It did get them more viewers. There were over 3 million viewers watching last night, including a high number of younger viewers.

I am sure they were impressed with TFG's command of the issues, vision for America's future, keen wit and grace under pressure. He showed them exactly who he was. I am sure he swayed them all.

 

[jaypatriot]

Unless the Trump CNN Town Hall was the beginning of a programming trend for CNN a one night viewer blip is not going to favorably influence advertising revenue for CNN. Even if the Town Hall for Trump is part of a programming trend for CNN there is no indication that CNN ratings will increase over time.

While it is my opinion that CNN made a terrible mistake by giving Trump the air time, it is conceivable that they did not. Most of the known world now knows that Trump is as crazy as a shit house rat. It is feasible that CNN made the decision to get ahead of the news: Donald Trump is either a raving lunatic (and I have long believed that he is) or he's going for the insanity defense in Mar-A-Largo, Atlanta and New York.

Perhaps CNN aired it first while it happened, while he perjured himself, while he repeatedly walked all over his own johnson live, all at once with the world watching.

Yes indeed, lost souls and dead enders unquestionably followed James Jones, Charles Manson and Adolf Hitler but most of world did not. I hope that is the angle, the risk, that CNN took. We don't know. Time will tell.

Your guess is as good as anyone's.

The image of someone walking over his own johnson live is like something out of a Tim Burton movie. With Michael Keaton.

 

[jaypatriot]

And my point was, how are its ratings going to be TONIGHT? And TOMORROW night? I've turned on CNN occasionally. Never again. It showed it is just as bad as Fox insofar as publishing disinformation because it thinks it makes them more money. I say eff that.

The only disinformation 'published' Wednesday night came out of Trump's sick mind.

 

[TomFitz]

Who? Got a name?
Did you see Mueller testify? The day after Mueller testified the left abandoned the whole fiasco and rolled out the next attack- a whistleblower that wasn't even on a phone call between Trump and Zelenskyy.
I bet you believe the dossier was the truth.

None of this is true.

And the fact that your failed wannbe fuhrer tried to blackmail Ukraine is not only not in doubt, he tried to brag about it (with his “perfect phone call” (while the real transcript was deliberately classified, to hide it from the people).

The “whistleblower” did not expose trump’s Ukranian blackmail scheme. Rudy Guliani blurted it out on live TV.

It wasn’t as If the whistleblower was lying, as subsequent investigations would uncover. The only lies were the ones trump and guliani were telling.

But this is what trump losers do. They blame the crimes of their messiah on the people who expose him. You’re not the only one playing this self serving little game.

And the Mueller Report continues to be accurate, well documented, uncontested, and never refuted.

The Steele “dossier” was largely irrelevant to the facts in the report.

The FBI got wind of what the trump cabal was doing well before they learned about Steele.

Right wing propogandists seized on the Steele documents as a way to build a victim narrative for their messiah. If you could get the base to look at the wrong thing, instead of the facts that emerged uncontested, than they could be easily led to reject the whole idea.

And the trump crowd is easily influenced by this kind of manipulation.

Watching the audience clap even when trump was lying to them straight out the other night demonstrated that, yet again.

 

[TomFitz]

Maybe they can reopen the Mueller fiasco if you tell them about the collusion you know about. It could save CNN.

Mueller finds no proof of Trump collusion with Russia; AG Barr says evidence ‘not sufficient’ to prosecute

"(W)hile this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him," the special counsel said in his report.

www.nbcnews.com

No collusion: Key takeaways from Mueller's Russia findings

WASHINGTON (AP) — Special counsel Robert Mueller spent 22 months examining whether Donald Trump's campaign conspired with Russia to sway the 2016 election.

apnews.com

Repeating Barr’s deliberate and dishonest mis characterization of the Mueller Report only undermines your own claims.

And trump world, not wishing to be confused by any facts, never read it.

Six weeks later, when people actually saw the report, and the facts and details therein, Barr was exposed as a liar (not that anyone had any doubt about that by then).

”Collusion delusion” is a two work slogan, made for simple minds.

 

[Captain Adverse]

I am sure they were impressed with TFG's command of the issues, vision for America's future, keen wit and grace under pressure. He showed them exactly who he was. I am sure he swayed them all.

You think you are being "funny sarcastic" but it might very well be true that Trump may have gained inroads to the normally tuned out crowd.

For example, his points on what he tried to do to stop the 1/6 "riot," as well as how much fault rested on both Pelosi and the DC Mayor. Then there was the proper response about how to deal with the Ukraine war. Not the "24 hours" bit, but the important stance that he is not going to negotiate committed only to one side (I.e., Ukraine) which would automatically put Putin in a spot of complete refusal.

There were other points made but IMO he actually came out pretty well overall, and CNN is the one with egg on it's face having not gotten it's "gotcha!" moment.

 

[TomFitz]

Yes a guy making $50k a year will get what you call a modest break. Do you think he should see $200k back in his pocket?

The reason tax cuts are great for the economy is because the result is more money to spend. Money that was earned in the economy. More spending increases demand. Supply increases from more people working. Tax revenue goes up in a healthy economy.

Then there's the Joe Biden fiasco. His first screw up was the war on US energy. Gas/ fuel prices soared. Those increases are passed right to consumers from increased transportation costs.
Joe Biden increased money in the economy with government spending. An extra $5 trillion. That's not money earned and spent in the economy. That's money printed by the government. Demand goes up. That leaves the supply side short and prices soar. Inflation soaring. It didn't help that Biden denied inflation for months and then said it was transitory. Then he blamed Putin and tried to spend more. Throw in a big fat omnibus bill on the last day of Congress and we are screwed even worse.

You’re spouting the same old “trickle down” nonsense the GOP has been selling for forty years.

Tax cuts for the wealthy and to encourage Wall Street speculation are one of the principal drivers of the trend toward the weakening of the wealth of the middle class.

 

[Callen]

You think you are being "funny sarcastic" but it might very well be true that Trump may have gained inroads to the normally tuned out crowd.

For example, his points on what he tried to do to stop the 1/6 "riot," as well as how much fault rested on both Pelosi and the DC Mayor. Then there was the proper response about how to deal with the Ukraine war. Not the "24 hours" bit, but the important stance that he is not going to negotiate committed only to one side (I.e., Ukraine) which would automatically put Putin in a spot of complete refusal.

There were other points made but IMO he actually came out pretty well overall, and CNN is the one with egg on it's face having not gotten it's "gotcha!" moment.

I disagree. His description of Jan 6th as basically a love fest will not sit well with those who witnessed with their own eyes what went on that day. Nor will his answer about pardoning most of the rioters. Additionally, his comments about Carroll and his claim he overturned Roe vs Wade will remind women voters why they abandoned him in droves. All Wednesday night did, in my view, was remind everyone who voted against him exactly why they did and reinforce with them it was the right move. It played well to the loyal Trump base but that's about it.

 

[soap box]

But it still needs to be determined if it was a ratings disaster.
I wonder if CNN is going to be hurt by this going forward.
I praise Caitlin Collins for standing up to Trump's bullshit answers.

I wonder if MSNBC is thinking about doing the same thing but with stronger guard rails- like cutting Trump's microphone off.

Lawrence O'Donnell hinted at that exact notion last night. The trouble is trump won't show up for a event if he knows the audience is normal. And he can refuse the host, there are 100 excuses he will make to not be exposed.

 

[JRTurner]

Lawrence O'Donnell hinted at that exact notion last night. The trouble is trump won't show up for a event if he knows the audience is normal. And he can refuse the host, there are 100 excuses he will make to not be exposed.

From what I understand, this is the first of a series of CNN Town Hall's with each presidential candidate. Since Trump announced first, he went first. It will be interesting if they repeat the same supportive audience for each candidate though

 

[gbg3]

Seems like a reasonable point from Anderson Cooper. Maybe the left has just gotten used to having so much of media willing to stay within their "silo" so this was just too jolting for them to handle. Meanwhile, the viewership for that timeframe that night was 300% of usual.

"Late on Thursday, anchor Anderson Cooper defended his network’s decision to host the event with Trump during an opening monologue on his prime-time show, though he said he “understands the anger,” being directed at CNN.

“You have every right to be outraged today and angry and never watch this network again,” Cooper said. “But do you think staying in your silo and only listening to people you agree with is going to make that person go away?”

 

[Cardinal]

You think you are being "funny sarcastic" but it might very well be true that Trump may have gained inroads to the normally tuned out crowd.

For example, his points on what he tried to do to stop the 1/6 "riot," as well as how much fault rested on both Pelosi and the DC Mayor. Then there was the proper response about how to deal with the Ukraine war. Not the "24 hours" bit, but the important stance that he is not going to negotiate committed only to one side (I.e., Ukraine) which would automatically put Putin in a spot of complete refusal.

There were other points made but IMO he actually came out pretty well overall, and CNN is the one with egg on it's face having not gotten it's "gotcha!" moment.

That evening was a 70 minute campaign commercial...for Biden.