Sorry, Anderson - Not Buying [View all]

[NanceGreggs]

RE Anderson Cooper's comments about Trump town hall:

&t=443s

The idea that Trump is the front-runner for the GOP nomination and therefor requires news coverage is one thing - but that's not what happened here. CNN was not covering a newsworthy event. What CNN did was create an event, and is now attempting to pass that event off under the guise of news coverage.

The fact that you, and others at CNN, keep using the term "predictable" when commenting on Trump's conduct tells the entire story. In other words, you all knew he would use the platform you gave him to regurgitate the same old lies - and yet you chose to give him over an hour of airtime to do so.

By your own admission, no one at CNN expected anything other than how things played out. No one expected any new revelations, any display on Trump's part of introspection or lessons learned. So the question is: What was the purpose of airing this debacle in the first place?

Filling the audience with MAGA supporters ensured that Trump's lies would be applauded, and that his deranged attacks on democracy would evoke encouraging laughter. It was like watching a KKK rally in front of a crowd wearing pointy white hoods, and passing it off as - need I say it? - a "fair and balanced" representation of American values.

You failed, Anderson, as did your entire network. CNN provided Trump with a platform from which to spew already-debunked lies, along with his blatant racism and democracy-hating rhetoric - and pretending it was anything other than that is an insult to every American with an IQ above that of your average houseplant.

I have admired you for years, Anderson - your journalistic integrity, your empathy. your passion for reporting the news as it is, rather than what it can be spun as being in deference to corporate sponsors and directives from network higher-ups.

But attempting to whitewash Trump's town hall as "just plain old news coverage" was a step too far.