CNN Poured Acid on Democracy for the Sake of Consolidating the Status Quo
Last Night’s Display Shows That Neither the Establishment Nor the GOP Frontronner for the Nomination Knows What Genuine Liberalism Demands
I didn’t watch the Town Hall last night. At first I thought I would. I thought I should. But I didn’t. I chose to watch something else instead. I figured there would be plenty of time to hear whatever insane though hilarious bullshit Trump would inevitably say, later. I was looking forward to reading the paper the next morning.
Now I’m a little shaken that what proceeded was worse than I could have possibly expected. I remember reading in the Wall Street Journal yesterday that CNN was perversely courting Trump’s campaign in an attempt to boost their floundering ratings, since the channel awkwardly, clumsily was forced to pivot to the ideological center, as CNN came under new ownership—while Trump’s campaign team thought the CNN as a platform might be good for Trump to appeal to moderates. So the poles were arranged to come together out of a deal of mutual raw self-interest.
What ensued in my opinion, was neither good for CNN nor Trump. Lots of angry critics are denouncing the episode fatalistically as a victory for Trump like the “Never Trump” Bulwark. It was certainly not. Trump clearly just threw away whatever chance he might have had with moderates or independents, doubling down on the election lies and his idea that Pence could have refused to certify Joe Biden’s victory. But for accuracy’s sake, let’s just call this ambiguous cohort that CNN and Trump’s campaign team are both interested in, fence-sitters.
Because it’s absurd to think that anyone who remotely fits the description moderate could possibly vote for or even think about voting for Donald Trump, who’s the polar antithesis of moderation whose emotional and cognitive volatility, I would argue, suggests mental instability. I’m not a psychologist or a psychiatrist, but I do enjoy psychology, with only a BA in English, as much as I like to study politics without a political science degree. And from what I’ve read, Trump resembles a bipolar patient in the midst of a very embarrassing never-ending manic episode. Delusions of grandeur and power, impulsivity, an abiding feeling of invincibility—the recklessness of his remarks since deciding to run for office again, under the pressure of multiple investigations, betray but are insecurely designed to conceal a deep, acute inner desperation indicative of mental breakdown or cognitive decline. Is this just in my head since January 6th, or is he getting crazier and crazier?
I think he is getting more and more nuts, but at the same time he is just showing us who he has been all along. What is scarier is that the surprising number of layers of Trump’s onion are rapidly getting peeled away.
There’s no stopping that, however, if he’s insane any less than you can educate a mentally ill person to accept reality. The major problem is we, i.e. CNN, i.e. Kaitlan Collins are helping him peel back those tissues of relative sanity, and confirming his delusions for him. That’s one thing that might actually be good to calm a maniac down and get him to go back to sleep. But that’s a very bad thing to do when you want to keep a maniac from becoming president.
Kaitlan Collins failed the country last night. She failed because she only asked him questions meant to ratify his insanity for a mass audience, of whom do not like or want to, and are tired of being treated with, such contempt by the media. The questions such as whether he would sign off on a national abortion ban were intended to disqualify him as a presidential candidate by publicly exhibiting how crazy Trump is— nothing more or less than an ideological quest for validation without appeal to any democratic principle of open debate and free inquiry (what a town hall, as a concept, I think is ideally supposed to be). The danger though, is such efforts were likely to harden Trump’s grip around his own base, and also sow the seeds to deepen the public distrust of the mass media, for independents I suppose who will neither vote for Trump or care for democracy, not while CNN tries to self-righteously take the moral high ground for them and treat them like babies by lecturing the public who not to vote for.
As Megyn Kelly argued intelligently on her podcast today, It would’ve been better if Kaitlan Collins had asked Trump difficult questions relating to issues that were actually important to potential Republican voters such as on how Trump would deal with inflation or the southern border. I for one, would be fascinated to know what Trump’s policy toward China would be (not that under any circumstance would I consider voting for Trump). If Collins had asked him genuine questions relevant to independents who might vote Republican, rather than just attempt to consolidate the status quo and enforce the narrative (even though it’s true) that MAGA or Trump is this way and that way— then we would probably see Trump reveal how uninformed, unenlightened, incompetent and clueless he is which would help independents or moderates—if we must call them— make a rational decision come 2024.
Kaitlan Collins is not a dumb person, and you can do worse than watch CNN for news. I watch CNN with my mom most nights with dinner. But I would bet they sustained serious damage to their credibility as a moderate normal news service last night, while pushing Trump further to the margins, and making the masses disdain factual truth.
What a god damn mess.
— Jay