CNN’s Trump Trainwreck and the Mainstreaming of Authoritarians
<p>The pageantry of lies that passed for a town hall last week was yet another low point in CNN’s coverage of Donald Trump.</p>
<p>To absolutely no one’s surprise, the former president used the media attention to paint an alternative view of recent U.S. history — one in which he features not as the twice-impeached, criminally indicted sexual abuser who lost the last presidential election, but as a decisive and winning strongman, the only person with the power and charisma to make America great again.</p>
<p>It’s a script that appealed to his many MAGA supporters in the New Hampshire auditorium last week; they cheered on their man as he mocked the victim of his sexual battery and called CNN moderator Kaitlan Collins “nasty” for her often futile efforts to fact check Trump in real time. (Prior to the live town hall, a floor manager <a href="https://puck.news/inside-the-trump-cnn-thunderdome/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">reportedly</a> told audience members that they could cheer but not boo during the show.)</p>
<p>And the Trump loyalists inside the town hall weren’t the only ones cheering on cue. The day after the program aired, CNN CEO <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/cnn-ceo-chris-licht-defends-trump-town-hall-praises-kaitlan-collins-1235485313/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Chris Licht praised the event</a>, telling staff that “America was served very well by what we did.”</p>
<p><a href="https://timkarr.medium.com/cnns-trump-trainwreck-and-the-mainstreaming-of-authoritarians-ec58b90cb0fb"><strong>Learn More</strong></a></p>