The Biggest Loser

JohnInCarolina

Botch said:

I can give you an unbiased assessment right now.  We're 50 minutes in and not one audience question so far was from a Democrat/Independent.  Not one!  
I thought they were going for just an hour, but they took a break at 45 minutes, and I can't watch anymore.  
It's apparent that, whatever "journalistic integrity" CNN may have had, is gone now; they're going after a just-cut-loose audience and the dollar$ they represent.  I'm hoping Fareed Zakaria (the only CNN I watch anymore) finds a new home, soon.    

I don’t have it on, but reports are the audience was entirely Republicans and Republican-leaning independents.  Seems like journalistic malpractice by CNN, but then I haven’t watched the channel in years.

lousubcap

@Botch - Thanks for your comments.  Way to give it a go as painful and biased as it seems to have been.  (Likely a deal cut in advance...) 

CNN pandering to the blatant effort to cultivate an expanded flock of viewers.  Money talks and another obvious indicator right there.

JohnInCarolina

http://twitter.com/speechboy71/status/1656468624121503744?s=20

Botch

JohnInCarolina said:
...reports are the audience was entirely Republicans and Republican-leaning independents. 

I'm not quite sure on that.  There were a few pans of the crowd where you could see half the crowd cheering and yelling, while others just sitting there showing nothing (and as I mentioned, I turned it off at the halfway point).  
Hopefully we'll learn more tomorrow, but I'm afraid this little escapade will actually raise traitor's approval ratings, at least in the short term.  

nolaegghead

The rowdy crowd was a minority. I think they put in enough independents and moderate republicans which are more like the Lincoln Project republicans.  Weighted more there than the rabid 25-30% general population (60% republicans).  But that last group is like a theater of MTGs, table rousing, rude (they cheered when he insulted E Jean Carroll after a jury found him liable).

Doubling down on all his big lies, over a year when the entire election system had been scrutinized and triple audited and there is clearly no evidence of wide spread fraud.

HeavyG

I never watch these sort of things directly myself. I just follow my Twitter stream which is always informative and usually quite entertaining.

Fun fact - The host - Ms. Collins - used to work for Tucker Carlson.

https://twitter.com/digby56/status/1656457037868564480

https://twitter.com/Papi_B_Dubs/status/1656483598273265665

JohnInCarolina

Botch said:

JohnInCarolina said:
...reports are the audience was entirely Republicans and Republican-leaning independents. 

I'm not quite sure on that.  There were a few pans of the crowd where you could see half the crowd cheering and yelling, while others just sitting there showing nothing (and as I mentioned, I turned it off at the halfway point).  
Hopefully we'll learn more tomorrow, but I'm afraid this little escapade will actually raise traitor's approval ratings, at least in the short term.  

I believe it was hosted by the NH GOP, Botch, so you can guess who turned out for it.  

dmchicago

Don Lemon is like “brah”?

JohnInCarolina

http://twitter.com/abughazalehkat/status/1656681593379905536?s=20

lousubcap

Some more "After the CNN ratings grovel" of last night:

ABOUT LAST NIGHT — To call it a shitshow would be generous.

CNN’s New Hampshire town hall with DONALD TRUMP last night may have done more to boost his chances of winning the GOP presidential nomination than anything that’s happened since the 2020 election.

Over and over again, a self-assured Trump lied and rewrote history. He claimed to have finished the border wall. (He didn’t.) He asserted that he’d been “exonerated” from accusations that he attempted to strong-arm Ukraine into digging up dirt on Biden. (He wasn’t.) He refused to apologize to MIKE PENCE for putting him in harm’s way on Jan. 6 and insisted that his ex-VP had the power to overturn the election. (He didn’t.) He called MICHAEL BYRD — the Black Capitol Police lieutenant who fatally shot ASHLI BABBITTwhile protecting lawmakers during the storming of the Capitol — a “thug.” (He isn’t.) He called Jan. 6 “a beautiful day.” (It wasn’t.) He defended his infamous “grab ’em by the ****” comments. (Really?)

And the live studio audience — which seemed vocally pro-Trump, as if imported from Mar-a-Lago — ate it up. They cheered when he denied moderator KAITLAN COLLINS’ factual assertion that he took three hours to tell the Jan. 6 rioters to go home. They applauded when he called E. JEAN CARROLL — who one day earlier was awarded $5 million in damages from Trump for his sexual abuse and defamation of her — a “whack job.” They laughed when he called Collins “nasty” and questioned whether she understood what she was talking about.

To her credit, Collins tried to fact-check Trump in real time. She noted over and over again that the 2020 election was not “rigged,” and that judges — some of them appointed by Trump — had in fact tossed about 60 court cases alleging fraud. She balked when Trump claimed that under the Presidential Records Act, he had the right to take classified documents to his Florida resort. (He doesn’t.) She pushed back when he claimed that he never asked Georgia election officials to “find” him the exact number of votes needed to defeat Biden in Georgia. (He did, and it’s on tape.) She rejected his attempts to blame NANCY PELOSI for his supporters rioting at the U.S. Capitol. (She doesn’t control the National Guard.)

But the furious pace of his falsehoods made them impossible to counter in real time. Trump just filibustered. And many of Collins’ fans came away feeling like CNN had put her — a rising star and widely respected journalist — in a no-win situation.

The night underscored how CNN has changed under the management of CHRIS LICHT. Not that long ago, CNN star anchor JAKE TAPPER refused to have GOP lawmakers who declined to certify the 2020 election on his show. Now, the network appears to have done a 180.

INSTANT REGRETS: Before the town hall began, CNN faced heavy criticism for lending Trump its platform, with many critics suggesting that the network was prioritizing ratings above its commitment to the truth. Not everyone saw it that way, of course: JON RALSTON, the CEO of the Nevada Independent, posed a Twitter thread earlier in the day defending CNN’s decision, noting that Trump is the GOP frontrunner and needs to be questioned.

Minutes into the event, Ralston reversed course. “It's a farce,” he wrote. “I am so sad.”

By the end of the night, the reviews were abysmal. The words “disaster” and “disgrace” were plastered all over Twitter. On MSNBC, host ALEX WAGNER called the spectacle an "hour of misinformation, lies and disinformation.” MATT FULLER, Washington bureau chief of the Daily Beast, railed against the forum as “journalism malpractice,” evidence that the media has “absolutely learned nothing.”

“Does CNN count that as an in-kind campaign donation?” asked DAN RATHER.

Even network talent and talking heads participating on CNN panels following the event seemed shell-shocked. And sources inside the network confided their deep regrets.

“It was a complete disaster,” one CNN employee told Playbook, arguing that the format — specifically, stacking the audience with Trump supporters who cheered his lies — was a “strategic error.”"

And there you have it.  The leopard does not change its spots and neither does CHEETO.  Hello!

JohnInCarolina

http://twitter.com/TheAtlantic/status/1656783579920183296?s=20

HeavyG

But the ratings were fantastic!! And ratings=$$$$. 

nolaegghead

I don’t know why everyone is triggered by CNN.  This isn’t going to “turn” anyone who doesn’t already have a negative opinion of the candidate, and as much as we hate it, we need to know where he stands and we f*cked around and found out.  

He’s the same loser as he was always was, lose hope for any change.

JohnInCarolina

JohnInCarolina

http://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1658575054521659392?s=20

nolaegghead

I’d hate to see what he does to hurt negotiations…

Botch

HeavyG said:

But the ratings were fantastic!! And ratings=$$$$. 

Not this time.  This morning CBS reported that CNN's viewership dropped yugely during last Friday's "prime time" hours, falling right behind newsmax!  (we can see easily where the majority of tucker's fanbase moved to)

fishlessman

Botch said:

HeavyG said:

But the ratings were fantastic!! And ratings=$$$$. 

Not this time.  This morning CBS reported that CNN's viewership dropped yugely during last Friday's "prime time" hours, falling right behind newsmax!  (we can see easily where the majority of tucker's fanbase moved to)

cnn prime time came in 4th behind fox, msnbc, and newsmax....thats kinda funny

HeavyG

Botch said:

HeavyG said:

But the ratings were fantastic!! And ratings=$$$$. 

Not this time.  This morning CBS reported that CNN's viewership dropped yugely during last Friday's "prime time" hours, falling right behind newsmax!  (we can see easily where the majority of tucker's fanbase moved to)

My comment was directed at strictly the Trump town hall event - which did, in fact, rank as the #1 cable news show that evening for both total viewers and viewers in the ever important 25-54 age demo (the group that is of most interest to adverti$er$).

Tho their ratings bump did last thru the night I don't think anyone expected those ratings to have much long-lasting effect. 

lousubcap

"16 records from the National Archives show that former President Trump and his top advisers knew the correct declassification process while he was in the White House, according to multiple sources. These records are set to be shared with special counsel Jack Smith on May 24 “unless prohibited by an intervening court order.” The records may provide insight into Trump’s intent and whether he willfully disregarded what he knew to be established protocols, according to a source familiar with recent testimony provided to the grand jury by former top Trump officials. Jamie Gangel, Zachary Cohen, Evan Perez, and Paula Reid report for CNN. "

JohnInCarolina

http://twitter.com/Z_Everson/status/1659304208170885120?s=20

45!

lousubcap

Well 45 matches CHEETO'S number as the worst president in US history so there's that. 

FlyOverCountry

JohnInCarolina

JohnInCarolina

http://twitter.com/iamharaldur/status/1660341553754169346?s=20

Botch

JohnInCarolina said:

http://twitter.com/iamharaldur/status/1660341553754169346?s=20

And the "healthiest" Pres in US History weighs, what? 300 lbs?  
 

 

JohnInCarolina

http://twitter.com/Jose_Pagliery/status/1660994122121895940?s=20

lousubcap

Related to the above:

"E. Jean Carroll seeks further damages from former President Trump for his disparaging comments about her during a recent CNN town hall. The amended complaint filed yesterday comes after Carroll won a $5 million judgment against Trump in a civil sexual assault and defamation case. Shayna Jacobs reports for the Washington Post. 

Judge Juan Manuel Merchan will today instruct former President Trump on the protective order issued in relation to the hush money payment case. Trump risks being held in contempt if he uses evidence turned over by prosecutors in the pretrial discovery process to target witnesses or others involved in the case. Trump will attend the hearing remotely to avoid the security and logistical challenges of bringing the former president to the Manhattan courthouse. Michael R. Sisak reports for AP News. 

Federal prosecutors investigating former President Trump’s handling of classified documents have issued a subpoena for information about Trump’s business dealings in foreign countries since he took office, according to two people familiar with the matter. The subpoena seeks details on the Trump Organization’s real estate licensing and development dealings in seven countries: China, France, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman. Alan Feuer, Maggie Haberman, and Ben Protess report for the New York Times." 

JohnInCarolina

http://twitter.com/HelenKennedy/status/1661176878101667842?s=20

Legume