Donald Trump on CNN: Does That Make Sense?

CNN acted as a bulwark against Donald Trump while he was president. Presently, it plans to host a town hall featuring Trump that it hopes will be ratings gold. Since Trump left office, CNN ratings have crumpled.

Anti-Trump hosts from Brian Stelter to Don Lemon to Andrew Cuomo have been forced out. February marked CNN’s lowest primetime viewership in a decade, dropping 42% among the 25-54 demographic that advertisers cater to. CNN had only 587,000 viewers for its primetime lineup. 

Trump will hold a town-hall style discussion at St. Anselm College hosted by anchor Kaitlan Collins, a veteran of Tucker Carlson’s Daily Caller. The audience will be made up of Republican voters and undecideds who plan to vote in next year’s GOP primaries.

Liberal Outrage

This has liberals who form the backbone of CNN’s audience angry.

“BREAKING: CNN is doing a town hall with indicted Donald Trump on May 10, because they’ve learned absolutely nothing. No one should watch this trash,” liberal blogger Scott Dworkin wrote on Twitter. 

Biden cheerleader Jon Cooper tweeted his disdain with CNN’s decision.

“BREAKING: CNN just announced they’ll put Donald Trump live on air for a New Hampshire “town hall.” Seriously? Do I need to remind CNN that Trump has a real chance of going to prison for FOUR different crimes? 1. False campaign disclosures to cover up a crime 2. Trying to…  This is absolutely ludicrous. There is no reason to give the biggest pathological liar in politics a platform to spread his…,” Cooper wrote.

Democrat gadfly Brian Krassenstein was more subdued, telling people he respects their right to boycott CNN, but they need to get used to the idea that Trump will be the Republican nominee. Krassenstein wrote:

“While I respect peoples’ right to boycott whatever and whoever the heck they want, my opinion on the calls to Boycott CNN over a Trump Town hall is as follows: 

-Trump very likely will be the nominee for the GOP. 

-CNN, like all news organizations, should be used to show Americans both sides of the picture. Fox News, MSNBC, Newsmax, etc should all do the same. 

-To attack a news organization for questioning a former president, who wants to be president again, in a town hall setting, is simple insane in my opinion

-Americans are smart enough to listen to his answers and make their own decision. They don’t need news organizations deciding what they should or should not see. Information is never bad. If Trump lies, CNN can call him out. Everything doesn’t have to involve outrage and boycotts.”

Ratings Gambit

Some mused that the decision was a swipe at Fox News in the wake of its suspension of Tucker Carlson and cancellation of his show. Fox’s ratings cratered following Carlson’s ouster, putting CNN ahead of Fox in the primetime for the first time in a long time.

“The ex-president will participate in a town hall event with CNN, a network he called “fake” and whose reporters he routinely chastised while serving in office … It also is the latest illustration of an aggressive media strategy that Trump’s team is adopting,” Politico reported. “The former president and his staff have re-engaged the mainstream press corps after largely shunning them.”

Politico also noted that Trump’s team has had talks with NBC about having an event featuring Trump.