May 11, 2023

Did CNN cut the Trump town hall short — by 20 minutes?

I didn't know how long the show was supposed to be, but when it ran over the hour, I figured it would go 90 minutes, and then it ended at 10 minutes after the hour? Was that the plan?

I see Newsweek has a piece this morning titled "CNN Cutting Donald Trump Town Hall Short by 20 Minutes Raises Questions." It begins:
Questions have been raised as to why CNN appeared to cut a town hall broadcast with Donald Trump on Wednesday evening short by as much as 20 minutes....
If you go deep enough into that article, you'll see:
A CNN spokesperson told Newsweek it had gone on record "days ago" that the town hall would last "roughly an hour" with "a little room to bleed over." 

I believe that, because, seen live, the ending didn't look abrupt, Trump didn't act surprised or outraged, and the moderator, Kaitlan Collins, didn't seem to be acting ungracious or punitive. She had been prodding him about his lies/"lies" throughout, and to give up before the planned end time would seem as though her pushback had been inadequate, which is not something CNN would want to concede. Of course, Trump bulled ever onward. That was predicted and prepared for. Nothing went wrong, and it would have been wrong to pull the plug early. 

Eh. I shouldn't reward Newsweek with a link, but you know, if you're actually concerned with Trump's lies/"lies," then you shouldn't serve up such a glaring fake-news headline.

The article relies on a tweet from a news agency I've never heard of:

Dylan Byers, a senior correspondent at Puck News, tweeted on Wednesday night that the town hall was scheduled as a 90-minute broadcast, "though the network expected the actual event to go as long as 75 minutes." 

He went on to say that it ended less than 70 minutes in. "In other words, they could have gone longer if they wanted—which is usually what executives do with big ratings draws," Byers added. 

Archived listings show that the town hall was scheduled to last 75 minutes....

5 minutes is not 20 minutes, and a 5 minute cushion in the listings seems to have more to do with space for commercials before the next show begins. 

63 comments:

Limited blogger said...

About your lies... when did you stop lying about those lies... that you've been lying about?

0_0 said...

The only recourse for CNN is to invite Joe for an equal town hall/ debate.

Rusty said...

They keep talking about lies but never give examples.

Colleen Brown said...

Town hall - 70 minutes

CNN "analysis" and "fact-checking" - 2 hours and 50 minutes

They talked until midnight!!!

boatbuilder said...

If I say “Puck News” to you loudly in a crowded room, will you be offended?

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Trump and Santos are the big stories

Not the fact that our fake president and many members of his family are corrupt international grifters to the tune of million...

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Collins is so fucking BAD at this! What a bully she was after that loving tongue bath she gave Biden on Friday. But the most striking thing is how sharp Trump is compared to Joe, who whiffed every softball Kaitlin tossed his way. Trump cut through the silly set-up to address the underlying false premises she posited. Desantis and Biden are likely depressed today.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Even the panel of voters pushed back on their dishonest framing of questions when they demanded to know what voters thought of Trump “still talking” about 2020 and the voter said, “Because it was the first thing YOU guys asked him about!”

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
tim in vermont said...

They just say that Trump lies, but never point to specific "lies" and go through the evidence, proving their case. The only reasonable inference is that they have no case. The media are acting as mind guards do in a cult, to keep people from thinking too deeply about what it is that they are saying. They accuse Trump supporters of being a cult because it is an incredibly effective propaganda technique to accuse the other side of whatever thing you are doing yourself that normal people might find unsavory. This muddies the waters making sorting out the truth all but impossible.

The Ukrainians do this in knee-jerk fashion. It's why we don't mind arming those nazis, because they are only different from the US government in their symbolism.

Once you see it, you can't unsee it.

Dave Begley said...

More Trump drama.

With Vivek or Ron, no drama.

If CNN did a town hall with Vivek, viewers would be super impressed.

All saw all the candidates in 2016 and 2020. Hands down, Vivek is the most impressive. Not really a close of a call.

Joe Smith said...

'Lies.'

Ha!

Pick any politician from any party.

CNN is no more news than I am James Bond...

narciso said...

no mas, it's like that classic dr who episode where they use the ray gun on the robot,

Narayanan said...

is there explicit contractual obligation if guest was told to be ready for 90 minutes of interview?

Narayanan said...

Puck News
=======
was nto Puck gester or clown in some literary mastrepiece

narciso said...

none of them, the real news is on substack and rumble and other places off the beaten path,

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Based on video - it's easy to say the left cheated their way to a Biden win in 2020.
It's not a lie at all.

But the same media insisting Biden was a big winner in 2020 - are the same media ignoring the fact that Biden operated multiple fake businesses during his time as VP and did so illegally - to flush he and his FAMILY with vast wealth. The ultimate pay to play.

*FIXED

Drago said...

Dave Begley: "More Trump drama.

With Vivek or Ron, no drama.

If CNN did a town hall with Vivek, viewers would be super impressed.

All saw all the candidates in 2016 and 2020. Hands down, Vivek is the most impressive. Not really a close of a call."

Sounds like this primary will be a "gimme" for you guys. Congratulations!

Drago said...

Hunter Biden's tax payer funded Hooker: "Trump and Santos are the big stories

Not the fact that our fake president and many members of his family are corrupt international grifters to the tune of million..."

Yeah, if only that Trump guy would go away the legacy media would be all over the Bidens!

Darn that Trump!

To those wondering if the GOPe-ers were really going to blame Trump for the legacy media not reporting negative news on democraticals, you now have your answer.

Drago said...

Rusty: "They keep talking about lies but never give examples."

It's E. Jean Carroll's all the way down.

iowan2 said...

CNN can can some traction by getting offering exactly the same opportunity to Biden. With same moderator, pushing exactly the same way against non-responsive answers.

I would love to have Biden asked if he will pardon his family members.

I would love the have Biden asked why he has abandoned his grand daughter.

I would love to have Biden asked why we had military forces in Ukraine, and how many US troops have been killed in battle there.

I would love to have Biden asked if you is going to grant Amnesty by Executive Order.

I would love to have Biden asked why the US is not Building 5 nuclear power plants a year.

Again with exactly the same strong, unrelenting push back against non answers and spin.

Sorry, I lapsed into full fantasy there for a minute. I have a good fantasy world, its just never been wasted on politics before.

iowan2 said...

Play this side by side with Bidens coddling on msnbc.

Leland said...

The few times I’ve heard specifics about Trump “lies”, it seems his statements were hyperbolic compared with reality, such as audience size or his comments “were perfect” when perhaps not. I then try to compare the concern for those Trump lies to the Steele Dossier or the Russian Disinformation opinion on Hunter’s laptop.

Yancey Ward said...

I didn't watch it, but I don't have to- the reactions of people like AOC tell me Trump hit a grand slam and did a victory dance on the corpse of CNN.

Robert Cook said...

"About your lies... when did you stop lying about those lies... that you've been lying about?"

That's a perfectly legitimate question. Did he answer and explain why he lied, or did he just tell more lies?

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Not to worry, Drago - your man Trump isn't going anywhere until he hands the 2024 election to the mob bosses... again.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

The media in the US is corrupt.

Rocco said...

It’s clear what we need: Trump needs to go to a town hall hosted by Martha Quinn on MTV News.

Earnest Prole said...

I thought Trump’s willingness to lie on behalf of the truth was considered a feature here, not a bug.

Ampersand said...

Trump is enmeshed in a web of irreconcilable, unresolvable claims made by and about him. If you get Trump, you get that web, and if there's a real Trump inside the web, he is hopelessly obscured from view by the web.

This is a new phenomenon,made possible by the unified ubiquity of media. Nothing will cut this Gordian knot.

Ann Althouse said...

"That's a perfectly legitimate question. Did he answer and explain why he lied, or did he just tell more lies?"

He stood by his earlier statements or claimed that he's always been saying the same thing. I don't think he's ever acknowledged that he's lied, but he often characterizes other people's views as lies.

Interested Bystander said...

All you Vivek fans out there, sorry to say, he's never going to be president of the US. Super smart guy. Likeable. But there's no track record. You could say Trump was an outsider and he won. Everyone knew who Donald Trump is. He'd been in the headlines and even had a TV show so everyone in America knew him. Vivek is super sharp and articulate but he's an unknown. I couldn't tell you how he made his money.

Drago said...

Earnest Prole: "I thought Trump’s willingness to lie on behalf of the truth was considered a feature here, not a bug."

Ah, here we go again.

Could you provide an example of this?

When you can't, will you once again offer a deflection or simply ignore the follow up?

I put it at 90/10 for ignore/deflection (I never want to zero out an option) since Prole hasnt fared will with previous deflections and so might be a little gun shy at tossing another one into the ring.

Drago said...

HBTPFH: "Not to worry, Drago - your man Trump isn't going anywhere until he hands the 2024 election to the mob bosses... again."

"mob bosses"

Your language becomes much more "colorful" when you increase the amount of BS you are shoveling.

It doesn't become any more correct or on point, but it does become more colorful.

We take wins where we can find them.

Drago said...

HBTPFH: "The media in the US is corrupt."

Powerful, insightful and unique commentary.

Revelatory even.

Drago said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
JLT said...

Watching Kaitlyn’s over the top interruptions of Trump made me think that I was seeing a Saturday Night Live parody.




Steven said...

I am always amazed by the people who claim that with Trump the Republicans get drama, but if the party were to nominate someone else, then that candidate would be drama-free. As far as I can tell, the drama has been consistently orchestrated by the Democrats, e.g., the phony dossier, the phony charge of Russian collusion, the pointless impeachments based on the phony dossier and Russian collusion, the false claims that Trump orchestrated an insurrection, etc.

Can people not see that regardless of whom the Republicans nominate, the Democrats will create drama, using whatever charges, true or false, that they can get the media to push to the public? Remember Romney's "binders of women"?

Is the recently litigated rape allegation against Trump (which the jury found to be false) really more dramatic than the charges that have been leveled against Biden with relation to his daughter and female staff member? What about the charges of financial corruption that seem to have significant documentation, and the process by which the intelligence community was corrupted to serve the needs of the Biden campaign? Are these not inherently dramatic? But Biden is portrayed as the boring candidate/president.

The drama is created not by Trump, but by the media. Every Republican who has a chance of being a winner will be declared a source of controversy and drama that white female voters will be instructed to find unacceptable.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Again Drago - As you are a noted solid Trump-Humper - not sure why you are concerned over something I say.
Your obsessive schtic is tired... like Trump.

Certainly the left's corrupt media operation aids Trump - so you must be OK with it right about now.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Drago is upset I mention mob bosses and Trump in the same sentence. touchy.

Ann Althouse said...

I watched a ton of MTV in the 80s.

I got cable tv for the first time in 1984 and I just loved it.

That was back when I let some people make me feel that I wasn't deep and substantive enough if I enjoyed pop culture material like that.

That is, it was back when other people seemed as though they might have some depth and substance that I worried about missing.

Man, those were the days.

I remember when I let someone make me feel ashamed to be such a lightweight when I got out of bed and walked in to another room to let him know what I'd just heard on the radio, that Elvis had died.

Of course, now we all know that the death of Elvis was a profound event in our lifetime.

Mason G said...

"The drama is created not by Trump, but by the media. Every Republican who has a chance of being a winner will be declared a source of controversy and drama that white female voters will be instructed to find unacceptable."

You can lead college educated females to an idea but you can't make them think.

Drago said...

HBTPFH: "Drago is upset I mention mob bosses and Trump in the same sentence. touchy."

Why would one Flip-side Inga conspiracy theory cause anyone to react any differently to regular Inga conspiracy theories.

But since you brought it up, because of course you did, are you prepared, this time, to tell us who these "mob bosses" are? Or did you happen to catch another show on cable tv that referenced "mob bosses" and you thought it would be fun to use it here?

And before you take the next step in your Inga-routine, which is reading minds to tell us "what is really going on behind the scenes" (your verson of "Nobody Knows What Mueller Knows!"), I should tell you that mindreading isnt really the preferred method for "proving" your points.

Not that it will matter with you...or regular Inga for that matter.

Michael K said...

Blogger Leland said...

The few times I’ve heard specifics about Trump “lies”, it seems his statements were hyperbolic compared with reality, such as audience size or his comments “were perfect” when perhaps not. I then try to compare the concern for those Trump lies to the Steele Dossier or the Russian Disinformation opinion on Hunter’s laptop.


Exactly !

Drago said...

HBTPFH: "Again Drago - As you are a noted solid Trump-Humper - not sure why you are concerned over something I say.
Your obsessive schtic is tired... like Trump.

Certainly the left's corrupt media operation aids Trump - so you must be OK with it right about now."

It would be difficult to break out all the logic disconnects and non-sequitors you offer up in such a short post, but here goes, and I'll keep it brief:

- I am a supporter of certain sets of policies that, at this time, only Trump and Vivek are pushing
- This has nothing to do with my pointing out how you continually and reflexively cover for the GOPe
- You are the one being obsessive and tired...like NeverTrump. I'm simply noticing it and commenting on your moronic comment...because its a public blog site!
- The left's corrupt media aligned with the corrupt GOPe and corrupt Dems harmed Trump and the national economic populism that I support, so your claim it helps Trump is quite transparently false, but only obviously so.
- And somehow, (another HBTPFH logic disconnect heading your way!) that makes the left's corrupt media schtick "ok" with me....because.....uh.....I don't know....neapolitan ice cream or something?

"Truly, you have a dizzying intellect"

HBTPFH comments have as much persuasive power as posting a meat loaf recipe.

Breezy said...

I agree with Steven. The drama and haranguing will return whenever it’s a non-Dem in charge. Media wants you to think it’s Trump, but it’s them. Collins would never interrupt Biden as feverishly as she did Trump last night… It’s almost a sickness.

Hey maybe we should have a dating game like scenario for the debates, with voice modulation that changes after every question. The moderator won’t know who is answering the question, so they have to be professional and fair. If they stray, are rude or combative to the candidates, they are replaced in real time.

Sometimes I surprise myself with my ingenuity.

wendybar said...

EXACTLY WHAT Steven said...
@11:13 AM.

Quite a few on this blog too. They will never learn.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

“If CNN did a town hall with Vivek, viewers would be super impressed.”

Sure, the handful who watched it.

Teenager sitting on the steps of a cannery labor camp cabin when some stoner told me Elvis died. I was probably shallow, but definitely indifferent.

Drago said...

Mason G: "You can lead college educated females to an idea but you can't make them think."

Heh.

Drago said...

Steven: "I am always amazed by the people who claim that with Trump the Republicans get drama, but if the party were to nominate someone else, then that candidate would be drama-free. As far as I can tell, the drama has been consistently orchestrated by the Democrats, e.g., the phony dossier, the phony charge of Russian collusion, the pointless impeachments based on the phony dossier and Russian collusion, the false claims that Trump orchestrated an insurrection, etc."

The democraticals know from history that if they create enough of a storm and kick up enough dirt for long enough that a significant percentage of always weak republicans will abandon any candidate just to make the "drama" end.

Basically, the GOPe-ers empower the democraticals in this strategy and they always will.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Did he answer and explain why he lied, or did he just tell more lies?

Not “he,” “she.” Caitlin lied her ass off when she wasn’t dishonestly framing her take on election integrity as indisputable fact or simply interrupting and challenging Trump— a trick she chose to never employ while Joe dropped his whoppers. Face it Robert this reporter was sent into battle of wits with no ammunition, only spin and unsupported opinions.

JaimeRoberto said...

Have you stopped lying about beating your wife?

Rusty said...

Steven is insightful. Steven should post more.

rhhardin said...

YouTube doesn't have the townhall, only clips that CNN thinks are damaging.

The clips I heard were mostly talking over each other, which doesn't work for holding an audience.

walter said...

Someone's big mad:
https://valiantnews.com/2023/05/lincoln-project-founder-melts-down-over-trump-cnn-win-wrap-that-sht-up-its-done/

Mason G said...

"The clips I heard were mostly talking over each other, which doesn't work for holding an audience."

If CNN just wanted to broadcast more Trumphate, there was no need to invite Trump. Here's how CNN themselves advertised the show:

"Former President Donald Trump is set to participate in a CNN town hall on Wednesday in New Hampshire, where he'll take questions as the frontrunner in the 2024 GOP presidential primary field."

Ok- a town hall then. What's that?

town hall
noun
an event at which a politician or public official answers questions from members of the public.

Question for the class: Why is CNN so afraid of letting the invited party answer questions that they constantly interrupt him when he attempts to do so?

Yancey Ward said...

"I remember when I let someone make me feel ashamed to be such a lightweight when I got out of bed and walked in to another room to let him know what I'd just heard on the radio, that Elvis had died."

Elvis is dead??????? OMG!

Yancey Ward said...

Look guys, if only Republicans don't nominate Trump, the Democrats won't stuff the ballot boxes with mail-in-ballots. That is the deal we are being offered.

DINKY DAU 45 said...

"Did you show the classified documents to anyone" Not really! WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? NOT REALLY? well I could if I wanted to. Cmon man is he related to the Rosenbergs? Jack will find out

gspencer said...

CNN cried "uncle."

Kirk Parker said...

iowan2,


Make that 5 nuclear plants a month -- a little over one new plant per state within a year.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

when a leftist media outlet (all of them) interview an R - they talk over, and interrupt on purpose. This is the game.

If the leftist media interview any D - they let the D speak, and help the D with crutches and softballs.... and other forms of ass-kissing.

Mason G said...

"The democraticals know from history that if they create enough of a storm and kick up enough dirt for long enough that a significant percentage of always weak republicans will abandon any candidate just to make the "drama" end."

Sounds about right.