Wednesday night’s CNN Town hall meeting at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire with former President Donald Trump was just as ridiculous as you would have guessed. From the very first moments until the end of the hour and a half long event, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins served not so much as a moderator for the town hall but more as a sparring partner with the former President. The night was so hostile to Trump that NewsBusters could have easily simply uploaded the entire event for you to watch. That would have been much easier than trying to decide the worst moments to bring to you.
After spending over 25 minutes arguing with Trump over the January 6 riots at the Capitol and relitigating the results of the 2020 presidential election, Collins finally got around to asking Trump real questions that normal Americans care about. The first was from a Republican voter about the out of control southern border.
Trump made the perfectly rational point that “If people are sick and have infectious diseases and lots of other problems, we don't want them entering our country. We have enough problems right now. We have problems we've never had in the history of our country.”
This apparently triggered Collins who butted in to insist that the reason Title 42 is ending is because “the COVID-era pandemic emergency is coming to an end.”
Collins then moved on to another immigration topic: the border wall. “Some of your Republican rivals have criticized you for not fulfilling the promises that you made on the campaign trail like finishing the border wall,” Collins said to Trump. “So how do voters know that you would get those done if you were reelected?”
“I did finish the wall. I built a wall. I built hundreds of miles of wall,” Trump responded.
“You built about 52 miles of new wall when you were in office,” Collins jumped in to insist.
Collins kept talking over Trump until he got fed up and said “Can I respond? This is what she does.”
Trump explained that “what the radical left crazy Democrats did if there's a piece of wood laying down they consider that a wall. I built 30 foot walls that go down 7 feet into the ground. If there was a little piece of wood sitting in the ground, they said oh he’s not building a wall we already had a wall. Because this is the game, they're a party of disinformation.”
Later on when asked for his position on the war in Ukraine, Trump noted “I have a very good relationship with president Zelenskyy. He backed me up with the phony impeachment, impeachment hoax number one when he said the president didn't do anything wrong.”
“I was totally exonerated, by the way. Just a waste of time and money,” Trump said referring to the first impeachment against him during his presidency.
Collins snarked to Trump: “You were impeached over that. You were impeached over that.”
“I was impeached by a crazy woman named Nancy Pelosi,” Trump retorted to wild applause from the audience.
The last of the most insane moments from the town hall was when Collins asked Trump about the controversy about reportedly classified documents being housed at Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago.
“The question that investigators have, I think, is why you held on to those documents when you knew the federal government was seeking them and they had given you a subpoena to return them,” Collins asked.
The following heated exchange took place with Trump ending up calling Collins a “nasty person.”
TRUMP: Are you ready? Are you ready? Can I talk? You mind?
COLLINS: Yeah, what’s the answer?
TRUMP: You mind?
COLLINS: I would like for you to answer the question.
TRUMP: It’s very simple to answer.
COLLINS: That's why I asked it.
TRUMP: It's very simple -- you're a nasty person, I'll tell you.
This town hall hosted by CNN was a giant waste of time for all involved. Especially voters in the room and watching at home. Very few substantive questions were asked and instead it essentially became a debate between Trump & Collins.
Hours before this dumpster fire of a town hall began, Puck News published a piece titled “The Kaitlan Era Begins Tonight.” This "era" isn’t off to a good start, if tonight’s performance was any indication.
This nationally televised trainwreck on CNN was made possible by Lexus. Their information is linked.
To read the transcript click “expand”:
CNN Republican Town Hall With Donald Trump
5/10/2023
8:45:43 p.m. EasternDONALD TRUMP: They're not going to do a version of Title 42 or my Title 42, which was tough. If people are sick and have infectious diseases and lots of other problems, we don't want them entering our country. We have enough problems right now. We have problems we've never had in the history of our country.
KAITLAN COLLINS: But Mr. President, the reason it's ending is because the health policy, the COVID-era pandemic emergency is coming to an end. That's what Title 42 was. You put it in place because of COVID. When it comes to big questions about what your immigration policy would look like if you are re-elected some of your Republican rivals have criticized you for not fulfilling the promises that you made on the campaign trail like finishing the border wall. So how do voters know that you would get those done if you were reelected?
TRUMP: I did finish the wall. I built a wall. I built hundreds of miles of wall and I finished it and then I said we have to build some more because there are areas like water going through a dam. There are some areas where a lot of people are coming. You close up one and they come into another. And we started another 100 miles of wall. In fact, I said to my people if we start this and don't finish it, and then we had a rigged election. I'm sorry to say it.
COLLINS: The election was not rigged, Mr. President. You can’t keep saying that all night long.
TRUMP: And so they took over and decided not to finish it. It would have taken them three weeks. I built hundreds of miles of wall. If we didn't have it, it would be hard to believe it could be any worse. They're just letting people flow into our country. Look, a country has to have borders. There's never been anything like what is happening to our country right now.
COLLINS: You built about 52 miles of new wall when you were in office, Mr. President. It wasn't a complete wall. One other thing—
TRUMP: But I have to respond to that.
[crosstalk]
TRUMP: Can I respond? This is what she does. I built hundreds of miles. Some of the wall was up there, and it would be laying on the ground rusted rotten steel, rusted rotten wood. And what the radical left crazy Democrats did if there's a piece of wood laying down they consider that a wall. I built 30 foot walls that go down 7 feet into the ground. If there was a little piece of wood sitting in the ground, they said oh he’s not building a wall we already had a wall. Because this is the game, they're a party of disinformation.
COLLINS: It's not a game, Mr. President. It's about 52 miles of new wall.
[crosstalk]
TRUMP: No, I built new wall. I built new wall.
COLLINS: 52 miles.
TRUMP: But hundreds of miles. What I did is I replaced other wall that was laying down that was up and rotting in the ground for 30 years.
[...]
TRUMP: I have a very good relationship with president Zelenskyy. He backed me up with the phony impeachment, impeachment hoax number one when he said the president didn't do anything wrong.
COLLINS: That's when you asked for an investigation in exchange for weapons–
[crosstalk]
TRUMP: Yeah, that’s right. I was totally exonerated, by the way. Just a waste of time and money.
COLLINS: You were impeached over that. You were impeached over that. But let's stay on topic here, Mr. President because the question is what do you give Ukraine weapons—
TRUMP: I was impeached by a crazy woman named Nancy Pelosi.
COLLINS: But the question here is would you give Ukraine weapons?
[...]
COLLINS: When it comes to your documents, did you ever show those classified documents to anyone?
TRUMP: Not really. I would have the right to. By the way, they were declassified.
COLLINS: What do you mean not really?
TRUMP: Not that I can think of. Let me just tell you, I have the absolute right to do whatever I want with them. I have the right. I was negotiating with NARA. Do you know what NARA is?
COLLINS: The National Archives.
TRUMP: Extremely left group of people. And I was negotiating with them—
COLLINS: They're not left. They're bipartisan.
[crosstalk]
TRUMP: They didn't raid the house of Joe Biden, they didn't raid Obama.
COLLINS: But Joe Biden didn't ignore a subpoena to get the documents back. That's the question that investigators have, I think, is why you held on to those documents when you knew the federal government was seeking them and they had given you a subpoena to return them.
TRUMP: Are you ready? Are you ready? Can I talk? You mind?
COLLINS: Yeah, what’s the answer?
TRUMP: You mind?
COLLINS: I would like for you to answer the question.
TRUMP: It’s very simple to answer.
COLLINS: That's why I asked it.
TRUMP: It's very simple -- you're a nasty person, I'll tell you.
[...]
