Trump the Chump uses his own lying words: the failed CNN propaganda fiasco

An echo opinion by column writer Milan Simonich published in the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper:

Ringside Seat:  Let Trump peddle his lies from sea to shining sea?

(Maine Writer- just love this column's name!)

Critics of CNN are everywhere this week. 

Watching CNN's town hall held at St. Anselm's College in Manchester New Hampshire, was an ugly spectacle, in which the former president lied about everything from the 2020 election to the January 6th Capitol attack that he incited.

They say the network bombed by giving Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump a forum that was infected with his lies and whining.

In fact, the televised event damaged Trump, though he might not realize it.

The backdrop is more straightforward than the outcome. Former President Trump detests CNN. The network wanted to quiet charges that it’s a liberal counterpoint to Trump’s apologists at Fox (Fake) News and other Republican outlets.

CNN Trump Town Hall: Darcy cartoon

In (a failed attempt) to demonstrate its sense of fair play, CNN hosted a Republican town hall with Trump and voters in New Hampshire (held at a Roman Catholic Saint Anselm's College in Manchester, NH!- I am a Roman Catholic who criticized Saint Anselm's for hosting this lie-a-thon in my social media!).

Trump stuck to his hackneyed script in which he starred as a victim of foul deeds.

Critics say CNN enabled Trump to regurgitate his lies that the 2020, election was rigged for Democrat Joe Biden.

Not so. Anchor Kaitlan Collins (flopped!) worked to hold Trump accountable. She confronted him with hard evidence, such as Trump’s 60 frivolous and failed lawsuits challenging the election results.

Context was absent from most of the complaints about CNN. Alex Sherman of CNBC wrote that CNN “inexplicably allowed a partisan audience to cheer on Trump’s running commentary.”

Inexplicably? Everyone knew a town hall composed entirely of Republicans would be partisan. So what? Trump is running for the Republican nomination.

Another safe bet was many of the town hall’s participants would shout their approval of Trump. But in the big picture, the voices of partisans in the televised event are small.

New Hampshire has 800,000 fewer people than New Mexico. CNN and the rest of the national media bestow extraordinary coverage on New Hampshire because it holds the first presidential primary.

The important fallout from CNN’s event with Trump has little to do with the host state. What matters is the network’s core national audience. It is composed of people who have no respect for Trump based on character flaws.

He reinforced their position with his histrionics and denunciation of Collins. Trump’s false claims about the election serve as inspiration for the silent majority that watched his performance. Now more than ever, as the politicians might say, they want to defeat him.

New Mexico saw a similar reflex action last year. The election for governor was in November, but it was decided four months earlier, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s base was ignited by the ruling ending federal recognition of abortion rights. Every state would once again establish its own laws, a patchwork system that hurts low-income women in Republican strongholds.

Lujan Grisham benefited politically from the ruling. She stayed resolute on abortion rights, saying New Mexico’s government would not decide if a woman can end a pregnancy.

Republican candidate Mark Ronchetti tried to soften his rigid anti-abortion stand in hopes of appealing to independents and swing voters. A former television weatherman, Ronchetti followed his natural instincts by trying to be all things to all people.

The more Ronchetti talked and advertised, the more his waffling drove the opposition. What might have been a tight election turned into a comfortable one for Lujan Grisham. She won by 45,000 votes.

Trump stands a better chance than Ronchetti for one reason only. Governors are elected by popular vote. The Electoral College determines the winner of presidential elections.

Trump lost the popular vote both times he was on the ballot. If he is nominated in 2024, he will lose it again.

The Electoral College gives him hope. Trump took the requisite majority of electoral votes in 2016 with upset victories in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, three states that for 20 years had gone for Democratic presidential candidates.

Both Democrat Hillary Clinton and Trump had high negatives with voters. Clinton’s exceeded Trump’s in most swing states.

Biden won back Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin in 2020. He also took Georgia and Arizona, states that had also gone for Trump four years earlier.

Trump for more than two years has escaped indictment in Georgia for attempting to steal votes in that state. In a tape-recorded phone call with Georgia’s top election official, Trump tried to bully his fellow Republican into switching thousands of votes to steal Biden’s victory.

None of this matters to Trump’s base. Its members must have pinched their noses as they tuned into CNN for Trump’s town hall.

They were outnumbered by viewers Trump angered when he claimed he could remain in the White House if only his vice president, Mike Pence, disallowed Biden’s electoral votes.

CNN’s show gave the whole country a look at Trump’s ongoing hysterical act. And for that, some would kill the messenger.

Ringside Seat is an opinion column about people, politics and news, written by Milan Simonich.