That Mess Last Night

I didn't watch Trump's whine-fest on CNN last night, because I can't watch CNN. I used to love CNN back when it was lovable - when it was the brash new kid, running around kicking over trash cans and showing the world that people will tune in for news if it's a real thing, and if there's more to it than a half-hour filled with 10-second sound bites.

One problem though, is that it showed us how 'the news' could be thoroughly corporatized, profitable, and thus profit-driven, profit-dependent, and profit-mandated.

Lincoln Project: Chris Licht’s and CNN’s Malpractice Cannot Be Repeated

May 10, 2023 – A statement from the Lincoln Project on CNN’s Trump Town Hall:

“CNN gave Donald Trump a campaign kickoff celebration tonight. Chris Licht sold out CNN’s values to chase Tucker Carlson’s viewers in a desperate attempt to find lost ratings.

“Tonight’s disaster must be a lesson that every other news organization on earth must learn: DO NOT NORMALIZE DONALD TRUMP. CNN gave Trump 90 minutes of uninterrupted air time to rewrite history and reset his own narrative. If democracy is to survive, then the media cannot follow CNN down the rabbit hole and treat Donald Trump like a ratings booster.

“Tonight we saw the MAGA Trump Cult in full regalia. Trump spewed his greatest hits of election denying, wallowing in self pity, and told lie after lie, while CNN’s hand-picked audience fawned over every answer and even laughed at his version of the sexual abuse case that he lost. Trump and his MAGA followers live in a deranged world where they are only too happy to take our nation off a cliff.

“To the other candidates in the GOP race, here’s a nickel of free advice: stop being afraid of Trump and tell it like it is. You could end his campaign now if any of you had some courage to say out loud what you are thinking, that Donald Trump is a threat to democracy and doesn’t belong anywhere near the Oval Office. Tonight showed that trying to be clever and cute will only lead to your loss.

“This outlandish and shameful display could have been avoided and prevented. Trump is the most anti-democratic force this nation has seen for ages and we cannot afford four more years. He has called for crushing the press and throwing out the constitution. CNN’s malpractice cannot be repeated if our democracy is to survive. The stakes are simply too high.”