Trump Ridicules Meltdown Over CNN Town Hall: ‘They Were Traumatized by What Took Place’

Former President Donald Trump eagerly ripped into CNN while also gloating about his town hall with the network and the outrage it sparked.

The Messenger interviewed with Trump where he was asked for his reflection on the New Hampshire town hall moderated by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. Trump said he was “surprised by the level of hostility” over the town hall, which led to his bragging that “they had one of the best [viewership] days in years.”

“I thought they would be neutral and even better than that so they could get the viewers back,” Trump said. “You would think they would claim success. I was amazed to see that they were traumatized by what took place. They were actually traumatized. I think that instead of acting the way they did, they should have said, ‘we had a tremendous ratings night, one of the best in years, many years,’ and spiked the football, right?”

Trump continued by chalking up the town hall as a win while outlining his media strategy.

I’ve never been so credited with the successes the way I have with this. Everybody —- the radical left, fascists, Marxists, communists, and normal people —- have said that it was a total complete victory for Trump…But CNN has taken tremendous hits. And I’m surprised they don’t really say that they had a very big ratings night. Truly surprising to me…

CNN very much wanted to do this interview. And I did it and I do other interviews like I’m doing the one for you now … The one thing I find is that if get ratings, they know it, they cover you. Even if they say they’re not going to. They tried not to in 2020. I did much better in 2020 than I did in 2016. And people hate to write that. But I got millions more votes in 2020 than I did in 2016. It was a rigged election. You can quote me on that or you can be afraid to go quote me on that.

Trump was referring to the criticism CNN got over the town hall, both for platforming his outrageous statements and behavior, but also because the format allowed Trump to turn the event into a bloodsport with little to no political substance. The ex-president also mocked CNN in his own terms on Sunday night, trashing his foes, bragging about himself, and once again insulting Collins.

“It’s really amazing to watch the head of CNN get absolutely lambasted for asking me to do a so-called Town Hall. In all fairness, nobody had any problems with what he wanted to do until after the show started, when they quickly realized that Ms. Collins was not exactly Barbara Walters, or even close,” Trump said. “That’s when the trouble from the Radical Left started. Neurotic little AOC with the bad looking boyfriend, went crazy. “He owns CNN, he’s in their head,” they screamed. CNN, take the GREAT RATINGS!”