CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins hosted a panel of guests who all heaped praise on her over her handling of ex-President Donald Trump at the CNN town hall.
Collins moderated a CNN town hall at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire Wednesday night that devolved into a chaotic spectacle of attacks, falsehoods, and abuse that sparked a barrage of criticism and recriminations at the network.
On Thursday night’s edition of CNN Primetime, Collins recapped the town hall, then was joined by a panel consisting of CNN analysts Maggie Haberman, David Axelrod, and Van Jones and Republican strategist and former Trump campaign adviser Jason Osborne.
The panel unanimously praised Collins, with Jones calling her a “matador” and Haberman observing Trump tried “to get under your skin” unsuccessfully, reminding her of Collins in her Trump-era briefing room mode:
COLLINS: Joining the table, with me, tonight, David Axelrod, veteran political consultant, and former Chief Adviser, to President Obama; also Maggie Haberman, Senior Political Correspondent, for The New York Times; Jason Osborne, Republican strategist, and former Trump campaign adviser; and Van Jones, CNN Political Commentator, and former Obama administration official, as well.Thank you all for being here.Jason, let’s start with you, and what you make of how Republicans, on Capitol Hill, today, were responding to that 70 minutes, last night.JASON OSBORNE: I’m actually impressed that they — that a number of them responded the way they did.I mean, first off,
I thought you did a great job.VAN JONES: Yes.OSBORNE: I mean, I think you did the best job anybody could expect, out of anybody, going up against Donald Trump. I mean, it was, to your point, last night–JONES: Yes, like matador against a bull.DAVID AXELROD: And he said it, by the way, he said that behind your back.COLLINS: While I was over there.JONES: Yes.OSBORNE: But, to your point, last night that you made, it was a rerun. I mean, this was Trump being Trump, as he’s always been. And I’m disappointed that we didn’t see something new, like just put everything that happened, on 2020, the trial, there’s ways to deflect that and put it in the rearview mirror, but tell us what we’re going to do next.So, I’m actually very impressed that we had Republicans, on the Hill, that were willing to at least address the issue. Now, there were some that just don’t want to even get involved in the noise, like Lisa Murkowski, who’s from my home state. I commend her for that. I mean, at least let the noise die down, and then come out, and make a statement, later, when she has to. COLLINS: Van, what did you think?JONES: Well, first of all, I just appreciated you being the matador against the bull. It’s — anybody’s that had a conversation, with Donald Trump, knows it is a very hard thing to do, just even, in normal life, let alone in front of millions of people.And I also thought it was a rerun, it was a repeat. But I think you also put him, in a position, where he revealed some things that people, who don’t watch him, all the time, were not aware of.For instance, he’s updated his sort of weaponizing of nostalgia. Before it was “Make America great again from the 50s.” And that’s very appealing to people, who feel that today is a rough period.He’s now moved it up. “No, make America great again, from just two years ago. Just two years ago, it was great. It was perfect. Everything was wonderful.” And if he stays there, where he’s praising his own past, and point to the future, and sticks Biden with the President? That’s dangerous.And so, I think, now, Democrats, now we have a chance to look at it, we can start getting ready. We can see a little bit of how he’s going to move. And I think a lot of Democrats had not watched him, for three years, shocking how terrible that he still is, but also you see, the virus is mutating. And we’ve got to be ready for him.COLLINS: Maggie, what did you think,especially given, obviously, one of his arguments, he’s been making lately is that maybe he won’t participate, in the Republican primary debates, because he is so far ahead, currently, in the polls. But he didn’t spend a lot of time, last night, talking about Biden, or his record.MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: No, I was very struck by that. And I just want to echo everyone else. He tried repeatedly to get under your skin. You never let him. And it was a real reminder of the Briefing Room version of you that we saw, over many years.
Watch above via CNN Primetime.