Add MSNBC’s Chris Hayes to the pile of people who believe that the Donald Trump town hall CNN aired on Wednesday was a disastrous mistake.
On Thursday’s episode of “All-In,” Hayes laid out in great detail why he thinks it was such a bad idea for CNN to give the disgraced ex-president such a prominent platform. And while his criticisms often echoed what the the myriad other critics of the event have said, Hayes’ main concern was about the American system of government itself, and the role of journalism in it.
“‘I should rule’ is not a view that can be debated,” Hayes declared at one point. Watch the clip above right now.
The Trump town hall, moderated by former Tucker Carlson employee-turned CNN star Kaitlan Collins, featured an hour and change in which Trump told dozens of lies, repeatedly tried to promote falsehoods about the 2020 election, made racist statements, defamed the woman who successfully sued him for sexual assault and defamation just one day before, and even insulted Collins herself. All while, with the exception of when he brought up 2020, Trump received fairly tepid pushback from Collins.
CNN and various network stars have deployed the defense that Trump’s run for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination is worth covering because of how popular he is, and that the town hall somehow gave Americans information they didn’t already have.
Hayes refuted those positions in plain terms.
“The core reason last night was bad is the simple, undeniable truth that Donald Trump attempted to end American democracy. He tried to destroy the foundational conceit of this country, the one we all celebrate, right? Since the revolution of 1776. That the government is chosen by the people, that we decide who rules over us. That we are not ruled by a king, or a strongman,” Hayes said, as footage of Trump giving the speech that incited the Jan. 6 attack on the capitol played onscreen.
“That’s the soul of the American experiment. Not only did he try to snuff that out, he failed in doing so but wants to finish the job,” Hayes explained. “I cannot stress this enough: You did not need to watch the town hall last night to know that.”
Hayes, as he has often done recently, characterized Trump’s new presidential effort as “a campaign to finish what he started.”
“He will do that by any means necessary. No one should have any illusions about that. Donald Trump wants to end American elections,” Hayes added, arguing that Trump’s goal is that he and his followers “should rule over this nation, no matter how outnumbered they are.”
“He is not actually running for a second term, he is running for a forever term,” Hayes said.
Then he turned his attention to the town hall’s audience, which consisted almost entirely of Trump supporters. “As we saw on display in the audience last night, represented there are tens of millions of our fellow citizens, in the grip of, for lack of a better description, a kind of psychosis and fealty to that vision. That vision, which is that this minority of Americans should rule over everyone else, through the instrument of Donald Trump, that vision is an existential threat to the union and to American democracy.”
“Journalists who are protected by those constitutional principles, who can only exist in a liberal democracy, a constitutional republic with the first amendment, have a responsibility to preserve those foundational freedoms. Donald Trump is simply, and unquestionably, an enemy of that.”
Hayes then got to his main point: “Of course, the problem with giving that man a stage, and an audience braying in his favor, more than an hour of national airtime to make that pitch, is that that view, ‘I should rule’, is not a view that can be debated.”
Hayes continued that Trump’s political activity — which is an effort “to rule as a dictator,” he argues — “is not a platform to debate, or to rebut, or to fact-check. It is a platform that simply must be defeated.”
