Trump runs back into CNN’s warm embrace
Zachary Faria
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While former President Donald Trump is threatening to boycott Republican primary debates, he is happy to embrace CNN. He and the network that arguably made him president in 2016 are prepared to continue the symbiotic relationship that helps them and hurts GOP voters.
Trump is going to appear in a CNN town hall event next week, which the network claims will include a “live audience of New Hampshire Republican and undeclared voters who say they intend to vote in the New Hampshire Republican presidential primary.” (CNN regularly and routinely runs all its town halls to the Left, whether it is talking to GOP politicians or not. Make of the network’s claim what you will).
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CNN was a favorite punching bag of Trump during his presidency, an outlet he repeatedly labeled as “fake news.” New CEO Chris Licht has paid lip service to making the outlet more neutral, but CNN has retained many of the same liberal hosts it had during the Trump years. The outlet is the same liberal advocacy group it always was, just without some of the more hysterical “journalists” it employed a few years ago.
But Trump’s relationship with CNN, or any other liberal legacy media outlet for that matter, was never truly adversarial. Those outlets devoted all their time and resources to Trump during the 2016 primary, depriving all other GOP candidates of oxygen and giving Trump $2 billion worth of free airtime. CNN was indeed one of those outlets, even giving substantial airtime to Trump’s empty podium before his speaking events.
Trump and CNN are in a symbiotic relationship. Trump loves the attention and wants to use the network as a tool against his enemies. Those enemies aren’t liberals or “fake news media” such as CNN. They are Republicans with proven conservative track records and a talent for winning. Likewise, CNN wants Trump to use its network to take down more conservative, more successful Republicans. It wants Trump to be the nominee, partly because he helps its ratings but also because he is the easiest Republican for President Joe Biden to beat.
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CNN gets a ratings boost and watches the Republicans lose as Trump ties an anchor around the party’s neck. Trump gets attention and a platform to criticize other Republicans further while he continues to be buddy-buddy with Democratic politicians.
The only losers here are the Republican voters themselves. Trump sells out the politicians successfully fighting Democratic culture wars over critical race theory and gender ideology, and further legitimizes CNN, an outlet that hates conservatism and everything it stands for. Trump and CNN need each other, and neither of them cares if GOP voters are left worse off because of it.