CNN's Trump Town Hall Is an Abomination, Says Michael Fanone
By: Michael Fanone (Rolling Stone)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Donald Trump tried to end American democracy. Why is CNN throwing him a rehabilitation party?
By Michael Fanone
I woke up last week to a text from my mother. Its contents hit me like a sucker punch. "CNN is hosting a town hall with Trump; Kaitlin Collins is moderating. WTF!!!" Then came confirmation: CNN will in fact host a town hall on Wednesday, May 10, in prime time.
I can already hear the questions: And why shouldn't they? Donald Trump is the clear Republican frontrunner for the presidency enjoying at least 70 percent of the Republican primary vote. Why wouldn't it be appropriate for a network to have him on?
My response to those questions is simple: Twice-impeached former President Donald J. Trump lied countless times to the American people, most famously when he told us (and continues to tell us) that the 2020 presidential election was rigged and that he was the winner.
So what, you say? They are just words — and certainly not the first time a politician has lied to constituents.
I'll tell you why this is different. Those lies persuaded thousands of his supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, violently attacking uniformed police officers and terrorizing members of Congress and their staff. I witnessed this assault firsthand as an officer with the Metropolitan Police Department, who like hundreds of MPD officers, responded to the U.S. Capitol Police Department's calls for assistance after their officers were overrun by Trump's mob. As a result of my efforts that day I was severely beaten, struck numerous times with a taser, and suffered a heart attack as well as a traumatic brain injury. One police officer died, and several others took their own lives in the wake of that barbaric day.
It is not just that Trump's lies and political rhetoric sparked an uprising at our nation's Capitol. Trump, as U.S. president, lied in an effort to defraud the American people and overturn a free and fair election in an attempt to remain in power. (See the January 6th Select Committee's Report.) In doing so he betrayed every aspect of his oath to represent us as Americans. We no longer need to imagine what Trump is capable of. He has shown us that he is an authoritarian who will use any means at his disposal, including violence, to remain in power.
Putting him onstage, having him answer questions like a normal candidate who didn't get people killed in the process of trying to end the democracy he's attempting to once again run, normalizes what Trump did. It sends a message that attempting a coup is just part of the process; that accepting election results is a choice; and that there are no consequences, in the media or in politics or anywhere else, for rejecting them.
Trump is well aware of all that. Since his announcement that he was seeking the presidency for a third time, he has offered to pardon his insurrectionist supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, calling them "Patriots" and "Great Americans." He has even incorporated recordings of "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "Justice for All" as sung by the J6 Prison Choir, a group of inmates imprisoned for their roles in the violent insurrection, into his rallies — giving these violent criminals a place of prominence in his campaign.
Then, this past March, Trump held a campaign event in Waco, Texas, on the 30-year anniversary of the armed siege there that took the lives of four special agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). In this not-so-subtle public display, Trump further embraced the anti-government violent extremist movement now spearheaded by groups like the Proud Boys, Three Percenters, and the Oath Keepers. Let's never forget that Waco was preceded by Ruby Ridge (which took the life of a deputy U.S. marshal) and then followed by the Oklahoma City bombing. Three deadly events involving white supremacists and anti-government extremist groups armed to the teeth attacking law enforcement. Sound familiar? What American presidential candidate would want to be seen aligned with groups like these?
Now, full disclosure: I "work" for CNN. That is, I receive a monthly check from them and have since abruptly quit my job as an MPD officer almost one year to the day after I was injured. In the nearly two years that I have worked for this network, I have had countless conversations with its employees, producers, hosts, journalists, camera operators, etc. They all have stories about the Trump years. When the former president attacked them (many by name), he inspired countless acts of violence, both threatened and overt, from his supporters. Many employees told me they were afraid to wear anything that identified them as CNN employees when out in public. So why lend your network's platform to someone like that?
In a recent trip to CNN's Washington, D.C., bureau, I sat silently in the green room as guests, anchors, and employees filtered through and clamored about how outrageous it was that CBS would give Marjorie Taylor Green an interview on its prestigious 60 Minutes series. Good question? I hope my fellow CNN employees have the balls to raise those same questions with the network executives.
CNN is a major American cable news outlet whose viewers trust that they are being given accurate reporting of events to the best of the network's ability. With this trust comes an obligation and commitment to their viewers. In the past, CNN has recognized the dangers of allowing election deniers a public platform and would not allow them on-air. Under new "leadership," that policy has been discarded as evidenced by CNN's decision to allow the chief election denier, former President Donald J. Trump, a prominent time slot in its evening lineup. As if Trump were a normal candidate who had not attempted to steal an election by force. In the wake of Jan. 6, Trump's ability to communicate to the masses was essentially stripped away from him. Twitter banned him for "life." No major media outlets would have him on. So what has changed?
I've heard the network's attempts to justify this clear reversal. The "He's the frontrunner in the Republican primary" argument. Somehow the network's "ethical" responsibility changed from preventing election deniers a platform regardless of the topic to giving those same individuals a huge platform to disseminate their lies. I don't believe for one second that this is about journalistic integrity. It's about ratings and money. Sometimes things are exactly as they appear, and this appears to be an attempt by a major media outlet struggling with its ratings to attract disenfranchised viewers. To me, allowing Trump an open forum on a major television news network is the moral equivalent of putting an AR-15 in the hands of someone mentally unstable. Whether words or bullets — and I have seen firsthand the effects of both — they are equally dangerous in the mouths or hands of those who have shown us time and time again what their true intentions are.
Michael Fanone served 20 years as a member of the Washington, D.C., police department and is a current CNN contributor.
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He's right.
"I'll tell you why this is different."
If there is one thing our friends on the left can do it is rationalize why it is different with Donald. As a matter of fact they can always rationalize why it is different and OK when they are doing the same thing they are demonizing the Republicans for.
Personally I won't be watching the interview, it will be much more entertaining reading the left and right analyze this and make one wonder if they were even watching the same thing.
I am going to watch it just to see if the CNN host has the guts to confront him.
I tried but he just keeps interrupting and talking over the host. There's nothing to see here unless you're MAGA.
The first thing any interviewer should do with Trump is ask him what he was doing on Jan 6th once the insurrection started. She tried to ask him but let him frame his answer with lies. The second thing they should ask him is about the Eastman memo which was a plan to have him crowned president by Mike Pence. She didnt even bring that up. Its a failure to launch.
It's a town hall, the focus is on questions from the audience which are primarily MAGA. Nothing to see.
This girl has no chance to handle Trump
girl ?
I'm old enough to be her grandfather.
She's still a fully mature female adult, regardless your age, lol.
ok.
She is an embarrassment to journalism tonight though.
CNN is an embarrassment to journalism tonight.
Fact checkers assemble to work on Trump's CNN Townhall statements
CNN had a chance tonight that very few if any "mainstream" news outlets have had - the chance to confront Donald Trump. They failed. Now in the "postgame show" their pundits are sitting around talking about how dishonest he was. That should have happened to his face, not afterwards. Trump will not be defeated by pretending he is a normal candidate, or person for that matter.
I'd like to see Lawrence O' Donnell, Jon Stewart, or Keith Olberman interview Trump. It would have been a much different story.
Exactly, they could discuss golf or abuse of celebratory status.
I dont think you know much about Keith Olberman.
Please expand.
He has been a Trump opponent for years, and brings a well prepared and fact based approach to his daily podcast . I dont think he would discuss either golf or celebrity status with Trump. He would go chapter and verse on Trump's lies and attempts to steal the election.
Got it?
Thats 9 years as a political commentator, which he is doing again on You Tube and in a podcast. He would handle trump extremely well.
Either Lawrence O' Donnell or Jon Stewart would destroy trump in a debate or an interview. He would never agree to be interviewed by any of the three I mentioned.
I think he has around 23 years in sports broadcasting.
So what? Do you think you are actually making a good point?
www.gq.com /story/176-reasons-donald-trump-shouldnt-be-president-olbermann
176 Reasons Donald Trump Shouldn't Be President
By Keith Olbermann September 13, 2016 16-20 minutes 9/13/2016
Every few generations, we Americans are called upon to defend our country. To defend it not so much from foreign dictators or war or terrorism, but from those here who have no commitment to progress or democracy or representative government—no commitment to anything except their own out-of-control minds and the bottomless pits of their egos.
Our society has thrown up these people before: Joseph McCarthy. George Wallace. Father Coughlin. Jefferson Davis. Aaron Burr. The Know-Nothings. The Blacklisters. The America-Firsters. And we have always thrown them out.
And now our generation has its own: the most dangerous individual ever nominated by a major party for the highest office in this country.
His base wants few details and fewer facts; they just want to burn it down and blame their failures on the collective other. And Donald John Trump is their demonic messiah in Oompa Loompa's clothing.
We must stop him.
It is not pleasant.
It is not fair that we have to do this.
But it is our turn.
The Emperor's New Clothes quality to the Trump campaign has survived these 15 months because, as we react to each outrage, our shock and revulsion have been refracted like light through a prism.
But these outrages are not separate events, not even a pattern.
They are, simply, Donald Trump.
Seen all at once, they—and he—are horrifying.
You must see them "all at once."
Thus—in brief—the story so far:
The Republican party has actually nominated for president a man who attacked the Pope .
Who attacked John McCain for being captured by the North Vietnamese.
Who attacked Gold Star parents Khizr and Ghazala Khan and then juxtaposed their names with the phrase "Radical Islamic Terrorism."
Who attacked Hillary Clinton as a "bigot." Who attacked her as " brainwashed ." As " unhinged ." As " a monster ." As " the devil ." As " the most corrupt candidate ever "—showing her face on piles of hundred-dollar bills and the Star of David.
Who attacked her as someone whom " Second Amendment people " should do something about. As someone whose religion "we don't know anything about"—after he explained he had never asked God for forgiveness .
Who attacked President Obama and implied he was a traitor . Who attacked him as having been complicit in the Orlando terrorist attack. Who attacked him for having lower approval ratings than Vladimir Putin, as if Putin's could be trusted. Who attacked him as being born in another country . Who attacked him as the founder of ISIS , then said it was sarcasm , then said it wasn't sarcasm , then attacked him again as the founder of ISIS .
Who attacked Carly Fiorina for her face ; Hillary Clinton for her non-presidential " look "; Heidi Cruz for her appearance ; Megyn Kelly for having "blood coming out of her wherever"; Mika Brzezinski as " crazy and very dumb ," " neurotic ," " not very bright ."
Who attacked the women who accused Roger Ailes of harassment.
Who attacked the women who choose abortion—and said there should be punishments .
Who attacked a New York Times reporter because he had a condition that made his arms look atypical; who attacked Judge Gonzalo Curiel because he was of Mexican descent; who attacked Senator Elizabeth Warren over allegedly lying about her heritage to get into Harvard when she never went to Harvard; who attacked Senator Jeff Flake by saying he won't be re-elected this year, when he isn't up for election until 2018.
The Republican Party has actually nominated for president a man who attacked U.S. troops in Iraq and claimed they stole millions; who has attacked Ted Cruz's father and claimed he was connected to the assassination of President Kennedy; attacked Bill Clinton and claimed he was a rapist.
Who attacked Mexicans as rapists, bringing drugs and crime; who attacked African-Americans and claimed they were all living in poverty with no jobs and schools that were no good; who attacked Harrisburg, Pennsylvania , as a "war zone" and attacked the United States of America and claimed it is in a "death spiral."
The Republican Party has actually nominated for president a man who lied about opposing the war in Iraq, when there is a tape of him supporting it. A tape recorded on the first anniversary of 9/11…
Who lied about opposing the war in Iraq during a speech in which he insisted, "I will never lie to you."
Who lied about six million dollars in charitable donations to veterans’ groups from his telethon; who lied about donating his profits from The Apprentice , about charitable donations from The Celebrity Apprentice , and from " Trump the Game " to St. Jude Cancer Center .
Who lied about a plan to debate Bernie Sanders for charity.
Who lied about why he wouldn't release his taxes, because he was being audited and proved himself a liar by saying he would release his taxes if Hillary Clinton released her e-mails; who lied about how much money his father gave him or helped him get, coming out of college; who lied about sending his private jet to ferry stranded U.S. servicemen; who lied about talking to the Attorney General of Florida, who declined to investigate Trump University after she was given a campaign donation ; who lied about his business in Russia ; who lied about meeting Russian president Putin ; who lied about offering child care to his employees, when it was child care for his hotel guests; who lied about "some people" wanting a moment of silence for the murderer of five Dallas policemen; who lied about seeing thousands of Muslims in New Jersey celebrating 9/11; who lied about 9/11 hijackers sending their wives and girlfriends home to Saudi Arabia.
Who lied about thousands of Syrian refugee terrorists being secretly admitted to this country; who lied about the Chicago police urging him to cancel a rally; who lied about the Chicago police saying they could solve crime there with " tough police tactics "; who lied about how there was no drought in California, how he never said Japan should have nuclear weapons, how he opposed the ouster of Egyptian president Mubarak , how the unemployment rate is 42 percent .
Who lied about ISIS making millions a week selling Libyan oil ; who lied about dozens of secret terrorist cases in this country; who lied that a protester who tried to rush onto his stage had "ties to ISIS"; who lied last May and again last week about refugees entering this country carrying cell phones with "ISIS flags on them" and phone plans pre-paid by ISIS!
Can you hear me now?
The Republican Party has actually nominated for president a man who congratulated himself in two tweets and a press release for predicting terrorist attacks like Orlando, while bodies still lay in the Pulse nightclub…
Who congratulated himself after the killing of Dwyane Wade's cousin .
Who congratulated himself on predicting Brexit, even though three weeks earlier he had never heard of Brexit.
Who congratulated himself on Republican Convention TV ratings , even though those for his closing speech were lower than for John McCain's .
Who congratulated himself by disseminating a video showing how much of that speech's total running time was taken up…by applause.
Who congratulated himself on having " the world's greatest memory ," then three weeks later testified in a deposition he had no memory of saying that.
The Republican Party has actually nominated for president a man who has proposed that Russia or China should enact a Watergate-like hacking of Hillary Clinton's e-mails; who has proposed banning Muslims from entering the country, then said it was only a suggestion , then proposed it again ; whose running mate has proposed banning members of other religions ; who has proposed open racial profiling ; who has proposed banning people from " terror nations ," saying, "Look it up, they have a list"; who has proposed " ideological certification " for immigrants; who has proposed worse than waterboarding while praising how Saddam Hussein , Vladimir Putin , and Kim Jong-un handled protest and terrorism; who has proposed that American civilians be tried by military commissions at Gitmo ; who has proposed killing the families of terrorists or suspected terrorists.
A man who has proposed teaching mandatory patriotism in schools; proposed that his supporters appoint themselves as election-day voting monitors ; proposed making American protection of fellow NATO members C-O-D; whose campaign proposed purging the government of all Obama appointees; proposed avoiding government debt by printing more money ; proposed reducing national debt by paying less than we agreed to; proposed forestalling new financial regulations by executive order—and then in the same speech proposed eliminating… some executive orders .
A man who proposed a wall along the Mexican border to keep out undocumented immigrants; proposed mass deportation of undocumented immigrants; proposed a smaller wall and fewer deportations during a taped television interview that played at the same moment he was giving a speech in Phoenix insisting on a larger wall and more deportations.
A man who has proposed immediately expelling at least two to three million undocumented immigrants , even though this would be like trying to evacuate the city of Chicago in one day; proposed immediately expelling any others not convicted—but merely accused —of a crime.
A man who has proposed to enact all this by executive action , bypassing Congress, even though he employed undocumented immigrants in the building of Trump Tower; even though those immigrants say he not only knew of them but hired them personally ; even though his own modeling agency and television shows enabled and employed undocumented immigrants; even though his own wife may have worked here without proper documentation ; even though his own grandfather was reportedly not merely a fraudulent emigrant to this country but was also denied re-entry to Germany because he was a draft-dodger.
The Republican Party has actually nominated for president a man who has claimed he understood the sacrifice of losing a child in war because he had spent money to hire employees; who has claimed he understood prejudice against African-Americans because the system is also rigged against him; who claimed the election will be rigged against him ; claimed the opinion polls are rigged against him, then praised one of the exact same polls when it favored him; claimed he would be leading those rigged polls by 20 points but for the rigged media; claimed Democrats are voting ten times each; claimed that his crowd in Colorado Springs would've been larger, but the fire marshal was a Democrat; claimed that his speech in Washington would have drawn as many as Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, but "nobody would let them in."
A man who has claimed he was his own best foreign-policy adviser ; claimed that Putin will not go into Ukraine when he already invaded Ukraine in 2014; claimed the U.S. is paying rent for a military base in Saudi Arabia when the last one there closed in 2003; claimed that to avoid hacking, the military should stop communicating "on wires" and return to using messengers.
A man who has claimed that any candidate using a teleprompter should be ineligible, and then himself began using a teleprompter; claimed that he doesn't use notes for speeches during a speech he gave primarily from notes; claimed he will fix the problems of African-Americans , then days later suggested that an African-American athlete protesting police shootings should leave this country.
The Republican Party has actually nominated for president a man who was revealed to have asked his foreign-policy advisers three times in one hour why this country can't use nuclear weapons if we have nuclear weapons—after having asked a television interviewer the same question ; who was revealed to have not known what the " nuclear triad " was.
A man who was revealed to have been the political beneficiary of fake Internet accounts underwritten by the Kremlin; revealed to have improperly sought campaign contributions from foreign nationals, including officials of foreign governments.
A man who was revealed to have erased all his e-mails , including those sought in a lawsuit, for five years; revealed to have plagiarized 20 pages in his Trump Institute handbook; revealed to have employed the purported author of his wife's Convention speech, which plagiarized part of a speech written for Michelle Obama by Hillary Clinton's former speechwriter ; revealed to have said on his 2008 radio show that Hillary Clinton would "make a good president."
A man who was revealed to have admitted using the pseudonyms "John Barron" and "John Miller" while pretending to be his own press spokesman and boasting of his sexual conquests in the 1990s; revealed to have used the pseudonym "John Baron" while his company threatened its undocumented workers; revealed to have telephoned one television network to alert it to something positive being said about him on another television network.
A man revealed to have millions in outstanding loans to the Bank of China ; revealed to have tried to make investment deals with Muammar Gaddafi ; revealed to have once kept a book of Hitler's speeches in a cabinet near his bed.
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The Republican Party has actually nominated for president a man who has allied himself with his campaign adviser and delegate, who said Hillary Clinton should be shot by firing squad for treason; who has allied himself with another campaign adviser who mused about waterboarding Hillary Clinton; who has allied himself with an African-American pastor who disseminated an image of Hillary Clinton in blackface ; who has allied himself with his own son, who follows a series of white-supremacist Twitter accounts …
A man who has allied himself with at least seven campaign staffers who have disseminated racist and/or violent messages on social media; who has allied himself with a state campaign co-chairman who tweeted , "Lynch Loretta Lynch"; who has allied himself with an Illinois Trump delegate who is a white supremacist ; a California Trump delegate who is a white-nationalist leader; a former personal butler who wrote on Facebook that President Obama should be "hung for treason."
A man who has allied himself with three different campaign chiefs: the first who manhandled a woman reporter, then lied about it; the second who was listed to receive $12 million from a pro-Russia political party in Ukraine; the third who has been accused under oath of anti-Semitic comments and domestic violence .
A man who has allied himself with a foreign-policy adviser accused under oath of anti-Semitic comments ; with a New York State co-chair who suggested Khizr Khan supports ISIS and is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood; with a close adviser who says a Clinton aide could be a "Saudi spy" or "terrorist agent."
A man who has allied himself with a former campaign state chairman accused of drawing a gun on another campaign staffer; with a conspiracy-theorist radio host who claims the Newtown school shootings were a hoax; with a political operative so corrupt he was once fired —by Republicans—for falsifying evidence …against Hillary Clinton.
The Republican Party has actually nominated for president a man who has offered to pay the legal fees of any supporter who becomes physically violent against a heckler; who encouraged crowd members to harass and threaten a reporter , whom he called out by name and who then needed Secret Service protection; who accepted a military medal from an audience member and said, "I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This was much easier"; who conducted a news conference to introduce his running mate , only to spend the first 25 minutes talking only about himself; whose prominent Latino surrogate warned Mexican immigration would put "taco trucks on every corner"—four months after the nominee commemorated Cinco de Mayo by tweeting a photo of himself eating from a taco bowl.
The Republican Party has actually nominated for president a man who tweeted thanks to singer Billy Joel for dedicating a song to him, never realizing Joel was, by doing so, mocking him; who gave a trade speech in Monessen, Pennsylvania, standing in front of a wall made out of bales of compressed garbage ; who bragged during a presidential debate about the size of his genitalia ; who gave a television interview while seated in front of a photograph of himself wearing the same suit, shirt, and tie; who appeared, in a joint news conference with the president of Mexico, with two bobby pins visible, holding his hairdo in place.
The Republican Party has actually nominated for president an irresponsible, unrealistic, naive, petulant, childish, vindictive, prejudiced, bigoted, racist, Islamophobic, anti-Semitic, misogynistic, fascistic, authoritarian, insensitive, erratic, disturbed, irrational, inhuman individual named Donald John Trump.
This…is madness.
Any questions?
I think that I made an accurate point. Do you think that accuracy is good?
I think I more than demonstrated that Keith Olberman would rip Trump to shreds in a one on one. How many years he spent in sports is completely irrelevant.
That depends on which media he was on and what market they were going after.
Trump would never do an event with an Olbermann, Maddow or anyone that has the facts, guts and temerity to hold him to account.
we're done. any more comments on Olbermans qualifications to interview Trump will be deleted. I've humored your nonsense long enough already.
What in the name of Zeus are you talking about?
I didn't think that we ever really started.
Zeus?
It's funny you talk about failing journalism and then mention three of the most partisan hacks in the country ,one of whom, Olbermann, is actually crazier and a bigger asshole than Trump.
I don't know if that's funnier, or the image of Biden trying to do this with similarly hostile questioning. That's what Trump has going for him against Biden. Of the two, he's the only one who can actually hold his own verbally without seeming like a distressed senior out after dark.
In 2016 Olberman wrote an article for GQ listing 176 reasons trump was unfit to be president. That article contains over 100 links to source material .
He would annihilate Trump in a debate or interview . Trump would never agree to be interviewed by any of the three people I mentioned. He's a moron, but he's not that stupid.
You know Olbermann was literally too crazy for MSNBC right? He's basically left wing Alex Jones, but a worse person.
Olbermann's probably the only guy capable of making Trump look like a rational, good guy.
Nonsense.
[trolling]
You reply "nonsense", Ok. I reply nonsense and you label it trolling.
Hypocrisy.
Nonsense!
Olberman is a crazy fuck who can’t hold a job anymore, what a worthless piece of shit human you idolize!
Yeah, and more than a lot of other options, I blame CNN for that. In 2015-16, they continually put their microphones in front of Trump and just let him go on until he ran out of breath. Anytime he had a rally or called a press conference, they just ran it, as if every bit of it were newsworthy (rather just showing significant clips like real journalists would).
Meanwhile, the news people at CNN put their feet up on their desks and spent the days drinking Starbucks or Wild Turkey, or whatever. I’ve never seen a candidate get so much free air time with so little analysis or criticism.
And they just keep on keepin’ on with this approach because it’s cheap ratings for very little work.
I think it was a good idea to interview Trump, who rarely if ever gets interviewed these days by anything other than right wing media. BUT, she had to confront him over his lies, and she did not do that. You have to tell him to his face, sir, you are not telling the truth. You are lying would have been even better. But that did not happen. Yes she tried to fact check his volcano of lies, but she is not even close to being a strong enough personality to handle Trump.
This thing is being torched on twitter, and so is Kaitlin Collins and CNN.
Yeah, I saw some of that last night. They were being savaged on Twitter - and deservedly so.
I watched the lying freak for a few minutes at the beginning and then it was really nice to turn it off.
I watched it. I wasn't interested in what he had to say because he'd said it all before. My attention was on the crowd. I noticed many were hard core MAGA and couldn't care less what he was saying, they'd already bought the leaking gas bag.
However, many in the crowd appeared to be dismayed and even let down by his performance. I suspect the facade of the Trump is showing fissures.
Kaitlyn Collins did her best to control the uncontrollable. I suspect she gave him all the rope he needed and he took all of it and more. I think she did fine, opening up the MAGA man to a new plethora of explaining just what in the hell it was that he was talking about.
I could only watch half of it and I surprised myself by tuning in that long.
I felt Olson was unprepared for Trump and he "owned" the night from the start. She seemed to be more concerned about the audience's softball questions than making him give a definitive answer. I mean, yes or no, will you do this? Yes or no, will you sign that? Why do you consider the office a thug? Is that code for something? Why aren't you supporting the insurrectionists, offering them legal advice? She folded like a cheap napkin. The post-analysts had more backbone than she.
He was prepared to do his normal over-talk, divert, answer without answering. He tested the crowd quickly in the first exchange, got laughs and he knew he had the suckers. The "indies" in the audience were pro-Trump dullards and pray at his altar. Despite the interviews afterwards none of them said they wouldn't vote for Trump b/c he's harping on the stolen election, they're just tired of hearing about it. None of them copped to the thought the Insurrection was an insurrection, the continued lies don't bother them, they just want to hear new BS. It was a MAGA crowd and having never attended a Trump rally I'm guessing it was similar, without shit-kicker boots & hats and Trump signs.
And the infamous "grab them by their..." That Access Hollywood interview happened when, 2005?!?! No one did anything then, except to say that's "Donald being Donald"; nothing was done about it in 2016 (except the interviewer got fired), and no one's going to do anything about it now. And b/c it happened the way it did in 2016, his attitude is "So what? What are you going to do about it, get the camera man fired? I got all the idiots riding for me and they can give a rat's patoot!!" He proved it with that total BS story about E. Jean; the folks in the audience lapped up that vomit and turd buffet gleefully and wanted 2nds and 3rds.
I don't think Trump will not go on MSNBC, CNBW, hell, I'm not sure he'll do a town hall on Fox / Fox Business. And I'm sure Biden's not going to Fox, Newsmaxx or any of the other ones. Maybe Trump will get brave and do 60 Minutes interview?
Overall, for Trump and MAGA it was a success, for America it was a failure.