MSNBC host Joy Reid panned CNN’s Anderson Cooper for his “straw man argument” in defense of his network hosting a town hall event with former President Donald Trump. (You can watch her remarks below)
Reid likened the event to a “MAGA version of the ‘Jerry Springer’ show’” as CNN takes heat for Trump’s remarks including a “nasty person” jab at moderator Kaitlan Collins and his “whack job” comment aimed at E. Jean Carroll, who won a lawsuit against Trump after a jury found him liable for sexual abuse on Tuesday.
“We begin with the continued cleanup on aisle five at CNN,” said Reid.
The host, on Friday, looked at comments from CNN’s Chairman and CEO Chris Licht where he reportedly went to bat for the town hall. Licht, according to a Puck News report, “summoned” CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy to a meeting after he argued in a newsletter that it was difficult to see how Americans were served by Trump’s lies.
Reid then analyzed comments from Cooper, who she said was “scolding his own viewers” on Thursday. Critics slammed Cooper over his defense of the network as he argued that the town hall audience – who laughed and applauded Trump – is a “sampling of about half the country.”
“Now that is what you call a straw man argument,” Reid said of the CNN anchor’s remarks.
“Especially [when] the only two options available to you are listening to a former president mock a woman a jury found that he sexually abused while the audience laughs and applauds or pretending 74 million Americans who voted for Trump don’t exist.”
Reid added that voters didn’t need a “Trump pep rally” to understand who he is.
“He literally posts his garbage views on his fake Twitter every day and every media outlet reports on it,” Reid said.
“We get it, a lot of people like it and vote for it. But we don’t need CNN or John Malone or Elon Musk or Anderson Cooper to lecture us about how we should be forced to endure it, or that we should just get used to it. Because some of us actually know that that stuff is wrong.”
