CNN’s ill-advised Donald Trump townhall went along with what critics predicted, giving the disgraced former president what amounted to free reign to say whatever he wanted, with only mild pushback. (Plus whenever Trump tried to lie about the 2020 election.)
But if the audience was put off by the event, this was not the case with the studio audience, which was made up primarily or even entirely of Trump supporters. Which explains why some of the worse moments at the townhall elicited whoops, laughs and cheers rather than any negative reaction.
That positive response was especially troubling during two particular moments. First, early in the broadcast when Trump is asked about the sexual harassment and defamation lawsuit brought against him by E. Jean Carroll, which he lost on Tuesday, essentially discrediting him again in the process . And another was calm when he lost and called the event’s moderator, Kaitlan Collins, a “bad person”.
On Tuesday, a jury found Trump guilty of sexually assaulting Carroll in an incident in the 1990s and of defaming her when she came forward to report the assault. He has been ordered to pay a total of $5 million on both counts.
In discussing the topic, Trump was asked what he would say to those who find this conviction a deal breaker when it comes to voting for him. He replied, “There aren’t many of them because my poll numbers just came out. They went up. I think I’m the only person in history who [that it happened to], And usually, you leave the office, you say ‘I’m sorry, but I’m going back home. I am back home to my family and everything. I’m going to reserve. My poll numbers went up, and they went up with other fake allegations.”
Then Trump directly smeared Carroll. At first, he falsely characterized his suit as “election interference”. Then, he attempted to label her a racist by sharing unproven and irrelevant claims against her that her legal team was forbidden from bringing to trial.
“What’s up,” he said, “is they doing this for election interference. This woman, I don’t know her. I know, I’ve met her.” I don’t know who she is. And there was a picture taken years ago with her husband. Nice guy, John Johnson. He was a newscaster. Very nice guy. She called him a monkey. An African or an African American, called him a monkey. Judge let us keep this in will not allow.
“The name of her dog, or her cat, was Vagina,” Trump said, pronouncing the word with a heavy, extended emphasis on the last syllable. “The judge won’t allow us to put it in.”
Again, Trump has already been indicted by a jury for defaming Carroll, and has been ordered to pay $5 million.
Later in the trial, Trump lost his temper when Collins asked him about classified documents he illegally took from the White House after his presidential term ended. For him to insult her personally.
“I think the question the investigators have is why did you keep those documents when you knew the federal government was seeking them, and then gave you a subpoena to return them,” Collins said. ”
“Ready. Are you ready? May I speak?” Trump asked.
“Yeah, what’s the answer?” Collins replied.
“Well, do you mind? That’s a very easy one to answer,” Trump said.
Collins said, “That’s why I asked.”
“It’s very simple – you’re a bad person, right,” Trump said. And yes, it should be noted that this is reminiscent of 2016 when Trump called his rival, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, a “bad woman.” This time without gender specification, of course.
See his comment about Carroll at the top of the page, and his comment about Collins at the bottom.