CNN reels internally from Trump town hall hangover

CNN’s town hall with 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump last night was such a doozy that the network’s own senior media reporter, Oliver Darcy, is copping to a widespread hangover this morning.

It isn’t hard to find people disgusted by CNN’s choice to host Trump; Twitter is ablaze with users proclaiming that CNN has “a lot of egg on its face” (Justin Baragona) and “should be ashamed of itself” (AOC). Mediaite’s editor-in-chief, Aidan McLaughlin cited a CNN journalist who told him, “That was sickening. Shame on us.” And in his Reliable Sources newsletter this morning, Darcy reported, “CNN and new network boss Chris Licht are facing a fury of criticism — both internally and externally over the event.”

The town hall was held in New Hampshire in front of an audience comprised largely of Republicans. Many on the left are praising moderator Kaitlan Collins for doing her best in “an impossible situation” (Peter Baker) and blaming the spectacle on Trump’s “significant home field advantage” (Jeremy Barr).

Still, many wonder, what was CNN thinking?

Licht, for his part, is standing his ground. Semafor’s media reporter Maxwell Tani issued a series of tweets this morning on what’s happening behind the scenes at CNN:

“On a call this morning with CNN staff, network CEO Chris Licht says he is ‘aware that there has been people with opinions and backlash,’ but that ‘there is so much that we learned last night of what another Trump presidency looked like.’ Licht added that the ‘mistake the media made in the past is ignoring that those people exist just like you cannot ignore that President Trump exists.’”

“It’s hard to see how America was served by the spectacle of lies that aired on CNN Wednesday evening,” Darcy declared in the opening of his newsletter this a.m. Yet Licht, according to Tani, insisted, “I absolutely unequivocally believe America was served very well by what we did last night.”

As far as what the American people thought of CNN’s Trump town hall, time will tell. And Cockburn is here for it.