Anderson Cooper addresses CNN's 'disturbing' Trump town hall
Trouble at CNN towers: Star Anderson Cooper blasts his own network for Trump town hall and says viewers have the right to ‘never watch this network again’
- Anderson Cooper said the way Trump ‘spewed lie after lie’ was ‘disturbing’
- But he also told viewers if they didn’t listen to him he would never go away
- He also stood up for his CNN colleague Kaitlan Collins who Trump called ‘nasty’
Anderson Cooper said comments made by Donald Trump during his CNN town hall on Wednesday night were ‘disturbing’ but defended the network’s decision to give him a platform.
During the opening monologue to his CNN show Anderson Cooper 360 on Thursday, Cooper told viewers that not listening to Trump won’t make him ‘go away’.
‘You have every right to be outraged and angry and never watch this network again but do you think staying in your silo and only listening to people you agree with is going to make that person go away?’ he said.
In 70 minutes of tense sparring with Cooper’s CNN colleague Kaitlan Collins, Trump called January 6 a ‘beautiful day’, wouldn’t say whether he wanted Ukraine or Russia to win the war and branded Collins a ‘nasty person’ for pressing him on why he took so long to recover classified documents from Mar-a-Lago.
That appearance on CNN – his first since 2016 – produced a series of controversial moments, many of which Cooper dealt with head-on.
Anderson Cooper said comments made by Donald Trump during the Republican presidential town hall meeting on Wednesday were ‘disturbing’ during Thursday night’s Anderson Cooper 360
Cooper addressed many comments made by Trump during the 70-minute confrontation with his CNN colleague Kaitlan Collins and defended the network’s decision to host him
‘Many of you are upset that someone who attempted to destroy our democracy was invited to sit on a stage in front of a crowd of Republican voters to answer questions and predictably continued to spew lie after lie after lie, and I get it. It was disturbing,’ Cooper began.
‘Many of you think CNN shouldn’t have given him any platform to speak and I understand the anger about that – giving him the audience, the time, I get that,’ he added.
‘But this is what I also get; the man you were so disturbed to see and hear from last night – that man is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for president,’ he said.
Cooper then lectured his viewers on the importance of maintaining an open mind and listening to those they disagree with.
‘If we all only listen to those we agree with, it may actually do the opposite [of making Trump go away]. If lies are allowed to go unchecked, as imperfect as our ability to check them is on a stage in real-time, those lies continue and those lies spread.’
He addressed various ‘disturbing’ moments during the town hall, including the moment Trump branded Collins a ‘nasty person’ for pressing Trump for answers.
He also noted a moment when Trump venomously referred to a black law enforcement officer involved in the January 6 riots as a ‘thug’.
‘It was disturbing to see and hear that person refer to a black law enforcement officer a thug, an adjective he used many times to describe black men, and called Kaitlan Collins, the moderator, ‘nasty,’ which is what he calls any woman who stands up to him,’ said Cooper.
Despite expressing disgust towards Donald Trump, Cooper suggested that the likelihood Trump will be the next president was too significant to ignore
Trump, 76, lost his temper with Collins, 31, when she pressed him as to why he had classified documents at his home in Palm Beach and called her a ‘nasty person’
When Collins asked if the jury’s decision in the E. Jean Carroll case would deter women from voting for him, Trump said, ‘No, I don’t think so.’
Cooper also mentioned the largely pro-Trump audience, which applauded many of Trump’s comments, including the way he mocked E. Jean Carroll just 24 hours after a jury found he sexually abused her.
‘It was certainly disturbing to hear that audience, young and old, our fellow citizens, people who love their kids and go to church laugh and applaud his lies and his continued defamation of a woman who according to a jury of his peers he sexually abused and defamed,’ Cooper said.
‘That audience that upset you? That’s a sampling of about half the country. They are your family members, your neighbors and they are voting and many said they’re voting for him.’
Despite expressing disgust towards Trump, Cooper suggested that the likelihood he will return to the White House was too significant to ignore.
‘According to polling, no other Republican is even close. That man you were so upset to hear from last night, he may be President of the United States in less than two years,’ he said. ‘It can happen again, it is happening again. He hasn’t changed and he is running hard.’
On Wednesday Trump also dug in on calling the 2020 election ‘rigged’, said the ending of Title 42 will be a ‘day of infamy’, defended his actions on January 6 and gave his views on the war in Ukraine.
Cooper called those remarks ‘disturbing’ too.
‘It was disturbing to hear him speak so highly of QAnon conspirators and insurrectionists who assaulted police officers and our democracy on January 6. And it was awful to hear him spread ridiculous lies about the election,’ he said.
In the wake of the explosive interview on Wednesday night, the likes of Joy Behar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lead the backlash at CNN, with AOC fuming the network ‘should be ashamed of themselves’.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said it was ‘a profoundly irresponsible decision’ of CNN to host the event
‘I think it was a profoundly irresponsible decision,’ she told MSNBC, of CNN’s hosting of the event.
Ocasio-Cortez said on the TV channel that CNN ‘put a sexual abuse victim at risk.’
Joy Behar, host of The View, tweeted: ‘The Cnn thing is a joke. The audience is stacked with his cult. Kaitlin [sic] is good, but it’s impossible to deal with this pathological liar.’
But Trump’s supporters were reveling in the anger he provoked.
‘I’m so proud of President Trump tonight, GREAT JOB!’ tweeted Marjorie Taylor Greene, a member of the House representing Georgia.
‘He is truly showing everyone why he is the president America needs.’
Taylor Greene commended him for appearing on CNN rather than his usual conservative channels.
Wednesday’s appearance marked the first time in seven years that Trump has been on CNN.
‘He is doing a town hall with CNN, who has attacked him more than anyone,’ said Taylor Greene.
‘Biden won’t even talk, can’t even talk to the press.
‘But President Trump loves this country and is showing he’s willing to fight for it.’
Texas congressman Lance Gooden said CNN was ‘the lion’s den’, but Trump won the battle.
‘Tonight President Trump went into the lion’s den and he came out victorious,’ he said.
On Thursday morning, CNN boss Chris Licht laid down the law with staff during his editorial call.
CNN boss Chris Licht took over last year and vowed to cleanse the network of its bias. He has been slammed for giving Trump a platform
Staffers like media reporter Oliver Darcy despaired over the event, calling it a ‘spectacle of lies’ and fuming at Licht for the decision. Some unnamed employees told outlets like Rolling Stone that it was a ‘f*****g disgrace’, so intense was their disgust with Licht and the decision.
Unaffected by their rage, Licht heaped praise on moderator Kaitlan Collins, and warned detractors: ‘You do not have to like the former president’s answers, but you can’t say that we didn’t get them.
‘While we all may have been uncomfortable hearing people clapping, that was also an important part of the story because the people in that audience represent a large swath of America.
‘The mistake the media made in the past is ignoring that those people exist just like you cannot ignore that President Trump exists.
‘I absolutely unequivocally believe America was served very well by what we did last night.’
Later on Thursday, it was revealed CNN’s ratings soared to 3.3million – double Fox and MSNBC – during the heated debate.
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