 I think it was a profoundly irresponsible decision. I don't think that it would, I would be doing my job if I did not say that. And what we saw tonight was a series of extremely irresponsible decisions that put a sexual abuse victim at risk, that put that person at risk in front of a national audience and I could not have disagreed with it more. It was shameful. You just watched Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez denounce CNN's decision to throw American democracy under a bus in a pathetic ratings grab. And I think that everything that she said there was spot on and it proves that CNN has learned absolutely nothing from the disastrous 2016 and 2020 elections. Now, let me just say for the record that I have no problem whatsoever with responsible platforming, especially of powerful people. In fact, it's incumbent on media to hold them accountable. The problem with Trump, however, is that he's not a normal politician. He is the first president in US history that tried to overthrow the United States government and he's running again. Objectively speaking, he poses a danger to democracy. That is undeniable. And that doesn't suddenly change because this is round two. Now, that's not to say that news agencies shouldn't ever talk about him. I mean, he is the leading Republican presidential candidate. I get it. So there's obviously a public interest in this race and I don't expect them to just like do a blackout of Donald Trump. The problem that I have, however, is that by platforming him, they are giving him the opportunity specifically to spread harmful misinformation and lies that are going to hurt our democracy. And also it primes viewers to think of him like he's like this normal candidate. But that is not the case. This is not a normal presidential candidate and giving him that platform that he doesn't deserve gives him another opportunity to do even more harm to our democracy. But CNN, they know what they're doing and I don't necessarily fault the anchors. I think that this decision came from the top but predictably within the first couple of minutes Trump started lying about the election. And even though Caitlyn Collins tried to fact check him, he expectedly did not back down which reinforces this harmful idea that he won the 2020 election when he in fact did not. So let's watch this first clip and then I'll explain why it's bad if that isn't already obvious to you. Your first term ended with a deadly riot at the Capitol and you still have not publicly acknowledged the 2020 election results. Why should Americans put you back in the White House? Because we did fantastically, we got 12 million more votes that we had in, as you know, in 2016. I actually say we did far better in that election. Got the most that anybody's ever gotten as the president of the United States. I think that when you look at that result and when you look at what happened during that election, unless you're a very stupid person, you see what happens. A lot of the people in this audience and probably maybe a couple that don't but most people understand what happened. That was a rigged election and it's a shame that we had to go through it. It's very bad for our country. All over the world they looked at it and they saw exactly what everyone else saw. Even if you just look recently with the 51 intelligence agents that made a 16-point difference. If you look at the FBI. If you look at the FBI and Twitter, they call it Twitter files, they had a big difference. If you look at through the vote. Mr. President, back to what you just said there though, it was not a rigged election. It was not a stolen election. You and your supporters lost more than 60 court cases on the election. It's been nearly two and a half years. Can you publicly acknowledge that you did lose the 2020 election? Let me just go on. If you look at through the vote, they found millions of votes on camera, on government cameras where they were stuffing ballot boxes. And he goes on and on. But do you see what I mean? We all knew he was going to do this and he did exactly what everyone with the brain expected. And it's dangerous. Now in this next clip, we're about to watch here. Caitlin continued to fact check him but they just kept going around and around in circles and it went absolutely nowhere to the point where I don't even see the point of this conversation at all. It should have been shut down abruptly within five minutes because this was just insufferable. But what you just said there, Republican officials debunked those claims about fraudulent ballots. We want to give you a chance tonight. Who? Republican officials. Who? Georgia and every single state. There is no your own election officials, Mr. President. So people were afraid to take on the issue but we have a big problem in this country. We have elections, we have elections that were horrible. If you look at what happened in Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, if you look at what happened in Detroit, Michigan, if you look at what happened in Atlanta, millions of votes. And all you have to do is take a look at government cameras, you'll see them. People going to 28 different voting booths to vote to put in seven ballots a piece. And they're all on camera. Mr. President, I have to stop you there because there is no evidence of that. Your own election officials testified to that and have said that Republicans in these states did this. In Georgia there were multiple recounts, including a hand recount. I cherish our Constitution but we have to live up to the Constitution. We weren't living up to the Constitution. I was just saying, there's no evidence of that election fraud. You didn't once tweet. I was supposed to say that but I'm glad you say that. But look, that was a horrible election. That was a horrible election. And unless somebody's very stupid and I know you very well, you're not stupid at all but you perhaps are given an agenda or you have an agenda. Look, we have to have honest elections in our country. Yeah, so you're probably thinking, what's the point of this? And again, the point is that this gets CNN ratings. There's no actual value for US democracy here. It's just ratings. That's it. This is why platforming him was a bad idea. The fact that we're debating objective truth on mainstream media in the first place, it speaks to why Americans are so misinformed and why we're in this current state. Some things just aren't debatable. Climate change is real. Racism is real. Trump lost the 2020 election. But if you present both sides as if they're equal and they both hold some truth, that's where you start to go down this rabbit hole where the truth doesn't matter and objective truth and empirical reality. These are things that can be questioned when they cannot. But staying on the subject of the 2020 election and January 6th, Trump called January 6th a beautiful day. Yeah, and said he's proud of his video where he told insurrectionists that he loved them because of course, and he was also asked about whether or not he'd apologized to Mike Pence for endangering his life. And he did not. He just basically blamed Mike Pence for not stealing the election for him. I mean, maybe they expected Trump to learn from his mistakes and grow after two years, but literally nothing has changed. It was as if he was placed in a fucking time capsule on January 7th of 2021 and he was just reawakened. I mean, there's just no capacity for growth there and he has no plans for redemption art. It's just the same Trump. I don't know what they expected. Now, Trump is and always will be a petulant, wannabe dictator who tried to overthrow the US government. But since this was a town hall, I do want to move on and get to some specific questions. So first he was asked if he would pardon January 6th insurrectionists and just take a wild guess as to what his answer was. This is almost comical, but let's watch. Well, you pardoned the January 6th rioters who were convicted of federal offenses. I am inclined to pardon many of them. Shocking. He then quickly pivoted to Antifa and how they've destroyed Portland. And it's totally true folks. As a PDX or myself, Portland no longer exists because it's not the fascists who are the real threat. It's anti-fascists. I mean, this is what gaslighting looks like. Now, speaking of fascists, yes, he is also keeping an open mind when it comes to proud boy pardons. Yeah, you heard that right. But when you said you are considering pardoning a large portion of those charged with crimes on January 6th, does that include the four proud boys members who were charged and convicted of seditious conspiracy? I don't know. I'd have to look at their case, but I will say in Washington DC, you cannot get a fair trial. You cannot. Just like in New York City, you can't get a fair trial. I mean, I could feign shock here, but is anyone surprised? I'm not surprised in the slightest. And so, I mean, what he's doing here obviously is bad because he's emboldening his most passionate and dangerous followers. And he's implicitly giving them permission to do another coup in the event. He doesn't like the results of the 2024 election. And on that note, so he was asked about whether or not he would concede the 2024 election. And let's listen to his answer here. It's almost hilarious, but it's sad and dangerous. If I think it's an honest election, I would be honored to. And right now, we are so far ahead of both Democrat and Republican. And you know what? If I don't win, this country is gonna be in big trouble. It's so sad to see what's happening. But no commitment there on the accepting the results regardless of the outcome. If it's an honest election, correct, I would. Okay, so not committing to accepting the 2020 or election results or acknowledging what happened in 2020. President Trump, I wanna. Aren't you relieved, folks? You'd be happy to concede if he believed that the 2024 election was fair. Well, thank goodness because I was starting to worry that he would subject us to the same shit from four years ago. But apparently we have no reason to worry because if he believes that the 2024 election was fair, he's not gonna challenge it. This is exhausting. What a joke. Now, moving on from election denialism because that was a big portion of this town hall, there were some moments that were despicable, just downright despicable. For example, after a jury found him liable for defamation and sexual abuse, just the day before he did this town hall, he predictably attacked his victim, E. Jean Carroll, which I mean, it's just, it's nauseating to watch. I'm not even gonna play the clip. Now, there were other moments that were genuinely horrifying from an economic perspective and I don't wanna give you any context. I just wanna play the clip and then I'll tell you why this is so bad. When we have a debt limit and they used that very seriously in me, they came in, Schumer came in with Nancy Pelosi and they were using it, we'll violate it, we'll do whatever. They talked a whole lot different than they do right now. I say to the Republicans out there, congressmen, senators, if they don't give you massive cuts, you're gonna have to do a default. And I don't believe they're going to do a default because I think the Democrats will absolutely cave because you don't wanna have that happen but it's better than what we're doing right now because we're spending money like drunken sellers. So just to be clear, Mr. President, you think the U.S. should default if the White House does not agree to the spending cuts Republicans are demanding. We might as well do it now because you'll do it later. You just listened to the top GOP contender for 2024 endorse a default on U.S. debt. I mean, he's not just directly encouraging Republicans in the House and Senate to play chicken. He's saying that they should just straight up destroy the full faith and credit of the United States just because fuck Biden. I mean, the extent to which this is extremely dangerous cannot be overstated. Now, first and foremost, he's currently attacking DeSantis, by the way, for wanting to cut Medicare and Social Security. But do you know what happens if the U.S. defaults on its debt? It would be an absolute catastrophe. People who are currently living off of Social Security, they would likely lose their payments. A national, if not global recession, could result. Inflation would probably be through the roof again. But Trump is saying that your suffering is a price that he's willing to pay. Now, in truth, if Trump were elected president again, I actually don't think that his donors would allow him to default because that would hurt their profits and the stock market and it's not in the interest of wealthy people for that to happen. And since we know who pulled the strings when he was the president, I don't think that he would do this as president, but if Republicans cause a default before Trump is back in office, this could harm Biden potentially and their hands could be clean because presidents historically, they get blamed for economic downturns and a situation like that would certainly trigger a crisis that would cause massive panic and a lot of blame directed at Biden even if he's not directly culpable here. But Trump, he doesn't care about all this. He is willing to gamble with all of our lives just for a shot at power and he's telling Republicans, do it. Tank the economy because it's gonna happen anyway. I mean, this is him telling his supporters that he couldn't care less about them but they're too fucking stupid to realize it and they probably now think that a default on US debt is good since daddy Trump endorsed it. It's just unreal. Now, I wanna move on to a different issue because abortion came up and he predictably celebrated the demise of Roe v. Wade but this was to be expected. He also explicitly endorsed exceptions which is something that he said Republicans should do more of which, I mean, I guess it's better than him not supporting any exceptions but it still doesn't solve the problem. However, during one portion, he told a lie about Democrats that was extremely egregious but that's to be expected for Donald Trump because he is a pathological liar. The problem with this particular portion is that Caitlin Collins let him get away with it. They're radical because they will remember the debate with Hillary Clinton. I said, rip the baby out of the womb at the end of the ninth month. They will kill the baby in the ninth month. If you look at that crazy governor of Virginia from the former governor, where he said, no, the baby won't be born and then we'll decide essentially whether or not to execute the baby. But Mr. President, can we talk about what you would do if you are re-elected? No, but these are the radical people. It's not the pro-life people that are radical. But if you are re-elected and you're back in the Oval Office and you get legislation to your desk, would you sign a federal abortion ban into law? What I'll do is negotiate so that people are happy. Of course, he's not gonna answer the question about a federal abortion ban, but he said that Democrats support infanticide effectively and Caitlin Collins just let that slide. You can't just let that slide. He just said Democrats want to execute babies when they're born and that is a lie that is so egregious that you can't just move on after that. You have to stop and fact check him. Now, I don't expect Caitlin Collins to be familiar with every single reference or quote that Trump brings up. That's impossible, right? But to make such an outrageous claim, that warrants pushback, even if she's not familiar with the context or the quote there. So she could at least ask him to clarify, ask him for a different example, but she just moved on. And that is why this was a bad idea because even if you try, you can't possibly fact check every single thing that he says. Now to be fair, Ralph Northam, who Trump was referencing about that specific quote, he was talking about this issue in a very sloppy way and this is a nuanced subject, so it requires delicacy. And Ralph Northam, frankly, is a fucking moron. He was the governor who did blackface in the 80s, but putting that aside, when you have the full context, it's clear that he wasn't embracing infanticide. CNBC explains, quote, so in this particular example, if a mother's in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen, Northam said, on WTOPs, ask the governor program Wednesday. The infant would be delivered, the infant would be kept comfortable, the infant would be resuscitated if that's what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother. Northam's spokeswoman, Ophira Yeskel, clarified that his comments referred only to a situation in which a woman with a non-viable pregnancy or severe fetal abnormalities went into labor. Now, needless to say, the details and the context matters here because if there is a severe fetal abnormality and the baby is only expected to live briefly before dying, some people may choose to terminate the pregnancy instead of having the baby only to watch it suffer and die immediately. I mean, I feel like that would be traumatizing, but others, however, might choose to deliver the baby so that way they can say goodbye and maybe get some sense of closure from that. I mean, people grieve in different ways, but either way, it's a very difficult, delicate situation. And if someone chooses to deliver, which is a decision that Republicans want to force pregnant people to make mind you, then the doctors can temporarily put the baby on life support after it's delivered while the family says their goodbyes. That's what he was referring to. Either way, it's gonna be traumatizing, right? Because if you are that late into the pregnancy, you want that baby. Who's changing their mind at eight or nine months? Like at that point, you want the baby and so the death is sad. But I understand how painful it would be to give birth to a baby only to watch it die immediately. So if somebody wants to terminate that pregnancy, I get it, but if they wanna get some sense of closure by delivering and saying goodbye that way, it's not my decision to make. It's not the decision of politicians to make. But after knowing the context now, ask yourself, did Trump fairly characterize Northam's comments? Northam is a bumbling idiot. But was that comment fairly characterized? Of course not. He makes it seem like you can just like throw a baby in a wood chipper if you have it and you look at it and you think, oh my God, it's not very cute. I guess I don't want it. That's not happening. And that's not being discussed here. You can't just move on from things like that. Katelyn Collins has to challenge these things. She has to offer pushback. And for most of the town hall, she did do that. But at that moment to let that slide, completely unacceptable. Now I've got one more clip from the town hall and again, it demonstrates why CNN platforming Trump was a bad decision. Like they did this at their own peril because not only was it impossible for Katelyn Collins to keep up with all of Trump's lies, but look at the way that he treated her towards the end and the audience's reaction. You held onto those documents. When you knew the federal government was seeking them and then had given you a subpoena to return them. Are you ready? Are you ready? Can I talk? Yeah, what's the answer? Can you mind? I would like for you to answer the question. Okay, it's very simple to answer. That's why I asked it. It's very simple to, you are a nasty person. I'll tell you why. That's the thanks that CNN got for bringing him on. I hope that the ratings were worth it. And Katelyn Collins at that point, she didn't have to remain respectful. Like if I were her, I would have said, oh, you think I'm a nasty person? Okay, that's fine. We're gonna go ahead and get nastier then. We're gonna cut your mic and we're gonna shut this shit down because if you can't respect me, then we can't have this conversation. Like I would love to see something like that rather than this decorum and civility when Trump offers none of that to his opponents. But to be fair to Katelyn Collins, she did challenge Trump a lot. I don't know that even I would be able to keep up with all of his lies admittedly, which is why like if you can't keep up with someone because they lie so frequently, you can't do the town hall. And while this level of pushback would probably be sufficient for almost every other politician, Trump is just an entirely different beast. And if you watched the post town hall commentary from Anderson Cooper and Jake Tapper, you can tell that they were troubled by the plethora of lies that Trump spread on their network. But again, I think that this decision was ultimately one that came from management. So I can't blame Katelyn or Anderson or Jake. I think that the finger should be squarely pointed towards the big wigs at the top, because this town hall was disgraceful and extremely irresponsible. But this is to be expected because our media companies in this country, the biggest ones, they're businesses. Their primary goal is not the delivery of news to consumers. Their goal isn't to have a more informed public. Their goal is profits. And they will act in a way that facilitates increased profits, increased eyeballs, bigger ad dollars. So that's why this was bad. But I've said my piece and I don't think they're gonna learn from this. So this is just going to be something that we have to deal with. The normalization of somebody who is a completely illegitimate figure who should not be taken seriously by anyone, but could plausibly be the next president of the United States. What a time. What a time we live in, folks. Mike is a total shitless. Shitless. Once he started shilling for the DNC, I stopped watching. So I definitely won't be hitting the subscribe button or turning on notifications by clicking the bell. No way. It's very sad enough.