CNN’s Donald Trump town hall went over like a lead balloon with most viewers, judging by the overwhelmingly negative reactions.
But while viewers were put off by the debacle, the studio audience, which appeared to consist primarily or even solely of Trump supporters, was decidedly the opposite. As the disgraced former president lied nearly nonstop, with only mild, frequently shouted-down pushback from moderator Kaitlan Collins, (the exception being whenever Trump tried to lie about the 2020 election), the crowd whooped and cheered and laughed.
That was especially the case in two of the town hall’s nastiest moments. First, early in the broadcast when Trump defamed E. Jean Carroll just 24 hours after a jury found him guilty of sexually assaulting her and defaming her. And second, when he lost his cool and called Collins, a “nasty person.”
Trump was of course found guilty on Tuesday of sexually battering Carroll in an incident that happened in the 1990s, and of defaming her when she came forward to report the attack decades later. He has been ordered to pay her a total of $5 million on both counts.
While discussing this topic, Trump was asked what he would say to people who consider this conviction a deal breaker when it comes to voting for him. He replied, “There aren’t too many of them because my poll numbers just came out. They went up. I think I think I’m the only person in history [that it happened to]. And usually, you leave office, you say ‘I’m sorry, but I’m going to back home. I’m back home to my family’ and everything. I’m going to be reserved. My poll numbers went up, and they went up with the other fake charge too.”
Then Trump smeared Carroll directly. First, he falsely characterized her lawsuit as “election interference.” Then, he attempted to imply she is racist, while sharing unsourced and irrelevant claims against her that his legal team had been forbidden from bringing up in the trial.
“What’s happening,” he said, “is they’re doing this for election interference. This woman, I don’t know her. I know, have a met her” I have no idea who she is. I had a picture taken years ago with her and her husband. Nice guy, John Johnson. He was a newscaster. Very nice man. She called him an ape. Happens to be African or African American, called him an ape. The judge wouldn’t allow us to put that in.”
“Her dog, or her cat was named vagina,” Trump added, pronouncing the word with heavy, extended emphasis on the last syllable. “The judge wouldn’t allow us to put that in.”
Again, when he said these things, Trump had already been found guilty by a jury of defaming Carroll, and has been ordered to pay $5 million.
Later in the town hall, Trump lost his cool when Collins asked him about the classified documents he illegally took from the White House after his presidential term ended. This led to him insulting her personally.
“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 then had given you a subpoena to return,” Collins said.
“Ready. Are you ready? Can I talk?” Trump asked.
“Yeah, what’s the answer?” Collins replied.
“Okay, do you mind? It’s very simple to answer,” said Trump.
“That’s why I asked it,” Collins said.
“It’s very simple — you are a nasty person, OK,” Trump spat out. And yes, it should be noted that it’s reminiscent of 2016 when Trump called his opponent, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, a “nasty woman.” Without the gender specification this time, of course.
Watch his comments about Carroll at the top of the page, and his remark about Collins below.
