Donald Trump Defends CNN Town Hall, Brags About Sky High Ratings

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GOLDEN, CO – OCTOBER 29: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump addresses a campaign rally in … [+] the Rodeo Arena at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds October 29, 2016 in Golden, Colorado. The Federal Bureau of Investigation announced Friday that it has discovered emails related to the closed investigation of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s private email server and is looking into whether they improperly contained classified information. Trump said “I think this is the biggest story since Watergate.” (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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Former President Donald Trump took a victory lap on Thursday, boasting high ratings for his town hall appearance on CNN Wednesday. People are criticizing CNN for giving me a Forum to tell the TRUTH, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. I believe they did brilliantly, with Sky High Ratings that they haven’t seen in a long time. It’s the biggest Show of the night, week, and month!

CNN, which had languished in third place behind MSNBC and Fox News Channel, jumped to first place Wednesday night, with its controversial Trump town hall delivering a total audience of 3.264 million viewers. CNN also drew more than 2 million viewers in the hours before and immediately after the town hall. CNN moved back to third place in the 10 pm ET hour, but still had an audience above its recent average of 1.23 million viewers.

But the network has come under fire for allowing Trump to repeat lies about the 2020 election being stolen and to downplay the criminal charges against him, including laughing at a jury verdict that found Trump sexually abused E. Jean Carroll. CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy, writing in CNNs Reliable Sources newsletter, said while moderator Kaitlan Collins has largely received praise for her relentless analysis of the former president, she faces a impossible task. CNN and new network boss Chris Licht faced intense criticism both internally and externally over the event.

Republican Presidential Town Hall with Donald Trump moderated by Kaitlan Collins Live from New … [+] Hampshire

CNN / 2023 Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.

On CNN Thursday night, Anderson Cooper defended the network’s decision to host Trump, saying you have every right to be upset now and be angry and never watch this network again. But do you think that staying in your niche and only listening to people you agree with will drive that person away?

Later that night, Kaitlan Collins moderated the town hall session and repeatedly tried to counter Trump’s lies, only to be called ugly by the former president who defended the event as newsworthy. Anchoring the network’s CNN Primetime, Collins opened the hour by talking about last night before describing the town hall as a major turning point in the Republican Party’s search for its nominee, and possibly the starting line. for America’s next presidential race.

Collins aired clips of Republicans in Congress who criticized Trumps performance, including Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, who said I think people saw last night what they’re going to get with another term of Donald Trump as president, which is completely off the mark.

Trump laughed off criticism from the left and the right, saying in a message on Truth Social that the Radical Left cried out to take it down, take it down during the Show because they saw that I was making so many important points on the Border, Energy Independence, the Afghanistan Catastrophe, Inflation, the Economy, Russia/Ukraine, and many others. Many minds were changed on Wednesday night by listening to Common Sense, and sheer Brilliance.

Although CNNs ratings were high compared to previous months, the town hall dipped compared to previous town hall events with Trump. Sean Hannity’s town hall with Trump in June 2020 drew 5.1 million viewers on Fox News, and Wednesday’s CNN event trailed the ratings for four other Trump town halls that aired on Fox. , all delivering ratings between 3.5 and 4.2 million viewers. CNN’s highest-rated town hall was with President Biden in 2021, drawing 3.7 million viewers.

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