Opinion | Day-after reviews of Trump town hall get even worse for CNN

Posted Friday, May 12, 2023 8:46 am

Tom Jones | Poynter

In the post-mortem of its Wednesday night town hall with former President Donald Trump, CNN was in full spin mode Thursday. In an editorial meeting with staff, big boss Chris Licht both praised and defended the night.

“You do not have to like the former president’s answers,” Licht reportedly told staff, “but you can’t say that we didn’t get them.”

Oh they got them all right: more lies about the 2020 election, revising history over the Jan. 6 insurrection, lying about the border wall, snarky remarks about the woman a civil trial jury said he sexually assaulted. Those were just the highlights (or lowlights) of the 70-minute town hall that played like a Trump rally.

Trump surely chalked it up as a great night. CNN as a company, and Licht especially, tried to too. But this was a disaster from the start to finish.

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Opinion | Day-after reviews of Trump town hall get even worse for CNN

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