Anderson Cooper rails against GOP audience from CNN's Trump town hall
CNN anchor Anderson Cooper tore into former President Trump as well as his supporters who attended the networks town hall.
CNN anchor Anderson Cooper was taken to task by fellow liberals on Thursday after offering a widely criticized "straw-man argument" about the far-left network’s decision to air a town hall with former President Trump.
The polarizing town hall Wednesday has angered liberals ranging from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., to rank-and-file employees and prominent media members, who had their knives out for Cooper. Cooper castigated Trump as a liar and called his words disturbing, but also scolded viewers not to retreat to their information silos and pretend the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination didn't exist.
Former ESPN and MSNBC host Keith Olbermann blasted Cooper’s comments as "pathetic" before taking a personal shot at the CNN anchor.
"This is really pathetic from @AndersonCooper. He's scolding the audience for saying CNN shouldn't have ceded editorial control to Trump; insulting them by saying maybe they hadn't paid attention to what he's done since leaving office," Olbermann wrote. "He remains the most overrated man in TV news."
CNN FACING 'FURY' FROM STAFFERS OVER TRUMP TOWN HALL: 'IT FELT LIKE 2016 ALL OVER AGAIN'
CNNs Anderson Cooper swiped the Republican audience that attended the network's Trump town hall. (Screenshot/CNN)
MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan also blasted Cooper’s monologue.
"This is what’s known as a ‘false dilemma fallacy,’" Hasan wrote.
The New Yorker’s Emily Nussbaum called Cooper’s take a "straw-man argument" and declared he was completely wrong.
"The choice isn’t between showing DT & ignoring him! It’s nonsense to suggest that anyone who objected to CNN’s grotesque faux-journalistic circus just wants to stay in a Trump-free silo— the opposite is true," Nussbaum wrote. "We want him to be covered *responsibly*."
Jeff Greenfield, a media veteran who has offered political analysis on CNN, echoed Nussbaum.
"This comment is a straw man; it conflates the real need to cover Trump--something every serious news organization has to do-- with the format CNN used, which proved disastrous," Greenfield wrote.
Cooper began his opening monologue on Thursday following CNN's town hall with Trump the night before by addressing his audience's reaction to the "disturbing" event.
Former President Trump lashed out at CNNs Kaitlan Collins, calling her a "nasty person" during a heated exchange about his handling of classified documents. (Screenshot/CNN)
Trump sparred with CNN's Kaitlan Collins over his ongoing claim that the 2020 presidential election was "rigged," his conduct around the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, and the recent verdict that found him liable for defamation and battery against his accuser E. Jean Carroll, whom he continued railing against to the amusement of some in the audience.
"Many of you have expressed deep anger and disappointment. Many of you are upset that someone who attempted to destroy our democracy was invited to sit on a stage in front of a crowd of Republican voters to answer questions and predictably continued to spew lie after lie after lie," he said.
"And I get it. It was disturbing," Cooper continued. "It was disturbing to see and hear that person refer to a Black law enforcement officer a thug, an adjective he used many times to describe Black men, and called Kaitlan Collins, the moderator, ‘nasty,’ which is what he calls any woman who stands up to him. It was disturbing to hear him speak so highly of QAnon conspirators and insurrectionists who assaulted police officers and our democracy on January 6, and it was awful to hear him spread ridiculous lies about the election."
Cooper insisted that despite Collins' attempts as moderator, trying to fact-check Trump is "impossible" since "he lies so shamelessly."
"Now, many of you think CNN shouldn't have given him any platform to speak, and I understand the anger about that… But this is what I also get. The man you were so disturbed to see and hear from last night, that man is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for president. And according to polling, no other Republican is even close," Cooper said. "That man you were so upset to hear from last night, he may be President of the United States in less than two years. And that audience that upset you? That's a sampling of about half the country. They are your family members, your neighbors, and they are voting. And many said they're voting for him."
Cooper continued, "Now, maybe you haven't been paying attention to him since he left office. Maybe you've been enjoying not hearing from him thinking it can't happen again, some investigation is going to stop him - well, it hasn't so far. So if last night showed anything, it showed it can happen again. It is happening again."
Cooper suggested CNN viewers "have every right to be outraged and angry and never watch this network again," but asked, do you think staying in your silo and only listening to people you agree with is going to make that person go away?"
"After last night, none of us can say, 'I didn't know what's out there. I didn't know what's coming,'" Cooper added.
Backlash from the left was swift and harsh, mirroring the feedback CNN has received since the Trump town hall aired on Wednesday. It was Trump's first appearance on CNN since 2016, and his performance was enough to send liberal CNN staffers into a tizzy and resulted in a prominent women's group calling for CNN CEO Chris Licht's job.
The far-left Meidas Touch griped, "How condescending."
On Friday's episode of "The View," far-left co-host Sunny Hostin fumed that Cooper tried to "gaslight" her with his speech and raged that CNN had made money on "the backs of our democracy."
"This reflects a lack of imagination. The arg is not that media should not cover Trump or what he does. Instead, media must be more thoughtful in its coverage and platforming of Trump, lest they become the de facto production company for disinformation & anti-democratic rhetoric," Stanford professor Hakeem Jefferson wrote.
Far-left former CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien called it "an attempt at damage control," while bestselling author Mark Harris objected to the "spin."
"Two problems with this spin: 1) We have had 8 solid years of watching Trump amid his followers, including, extensively, on CNN. 2) Having an audience of supporters was clearly a precondition that was demanded of CNN. Any discussion has to start with being forthright about that," Harris wrote.
Longtime media critic and professor Bill Grueskin accused Cooper of misstating the concerns of CNN viewers.
"Shorter version: I'm going to misstate your concerns about our town hall, and then I'm going to knock down those concerns which, as I noted, are not your real concerns," Grueskin wrote.
OCASIO-CORTEZ FUMES AT CNN FOR TRUMP TOWN HALL: ‘SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES’
The Atlantic contributing writer Norman Ornstein added, "Nice that you are being a loyal soldier, but you are a smart guy. Smart enough to know that no one will be taken in by this utterly false choice."
Author Mark Jacob chimed in, "Ridiculous false choice presented here by Anderson Cooper. As if platforming a torrent of fascist lies pushes forward a responsible conversation about this nation’s future."
Columbia professor Tom Watson called Cooper's monologue "incredible bulls--t" and said he was "embarrassed for him."
Many others scolded the CNN anchor:
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Cooper's liberal sermon was reminiscent of how CNN anchors sounded when the network was run by ex-CNN boss Jeff Zucker, who was forced to resign in scandal in February 2022.
Fox News' David Rutz contributed to this report.
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