Nepo Baby Anderson Cooper Is A Better Friend To Trump Than He Was To Kathy Griffin

Trump didn't need a CNN town hall for us to know who he is.

In a rather bizarre attempt to save face after the disastrous and senseless Trump town hall — the lede of the news story about it at CNN was "It’s hard to see how America was served by the spectacle of lies that aired on CNN Wednesday evening" — CNN's Anderson Cooper took some time out to have a condescending little fireside chat with viewers about how the network actually did this for them . Why? Because otherwise they would be stuck in their "silos" and shocked if Trump won again.

Either that or because CNN head Chris Licht has been super clear about the fact that he wants the network to go more in the direction of Fox News.

“Cooper: You have every right to be outraged today and angry and never watch this network again. But do you think staying in your silo and only listening to people you agree with is going to make that person go away?”

— Acyn (@Acyn) 1683850121 

As someone who kept saying that Trump was probably going to win the first time around, while all the Anderson Cooper types were having a good hearty chuckle about how no one would ever vote for someone so gauche , I would like to be very clear right off the bat that this was in no way a necessary or effective way to get that message through.

"Now, many of you have expressed deep anger and disappointment," he began. "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 and answer questions, and predictably continued to spew lie after lie after lie."

Well, yes. Obviously. Because it was a grotesque and irresponsible thing to do — and also a tad pathetic given that the people it was meant to appeal to will never love the network back.

"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 as 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."

Again, yes. Correct. It was disturbing.

After listing all the other "disturbing" things about the event, Cooper added that "it was certainly disturbing to hear that audience, young and old, our fellow citizens, people who love their kids and go to church, laugh and applaud his lies and his continued defamation of a woman who, according to a jury of his peers, he sexually abused and defamed."

Oh, they love their kids and go to church, do they? What does that even mean? Does he imagine that even one single person in the world is thinking "Wow, even decent people think Trump is great and find it hilarious to make fun of rape victims"? Because there are lots of terrible people out there who "love their kids and go to church." The issue with Trump supporters was never that they were atheists or that they hated their own offspring. Not once was that on the table! (Except sometimes, if their kids are gay.)

Cooper then explained that it was just very difficult for Collins to fact check every one of Trump's lies in real time, because of how he lies constantly. Some of us might say that if that is not possible, then giving him a town hall filled with his own admirers would be a pretty irresponsible thing to do.

"Many of you think CNN shouldn’t have given him any platform to speak. And I understand the anger about that — giving him the audience, the time. I get that," he continued. "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."

Oh, he's so much more mature than the rest of us, you see.

This might be a reasonable argument if it were a remotely normal thing to do to have town halls with candidates this far out from an election. The first Republican presidential debate isn't even until August. Giving him his very own platform, by himself, this early on is just free advertising for him, specifically.

"That man you were so upset to hear from last night, he may be president of the United States in less than two years," Cooper explained to what he assumed was an audience full of idiots who are not both aware and terrified of this possibility. "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."

Seems like he'll have a much easier time becoming president again if CNN keeps giving him all this free airtime. Perhaps they can show his empty podium again as well.

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."

Again, everyone knows this. What is unclear is why CNN is trying to spit in our faces and tell us it's raining.

"You have every right to be outraged and angry and never watch this network again, but do you think staying in your silo and only listening to people you agree with is going to make that person go away?"

The idea of Anderson Cooper being the one to say this is truly hilarious. First of all, I'm surprised the man even knows what a silo is. Frankly, I have not eliminated the possibility that he does not. The man is not just in a silo, he's not just in a bubble, he's like a mint condition Madame Alexander doll in protective casing, inside a John Travolta as the Bubble Boy bubble that has been thrown into a silo, on another planet. He's a Vanderbilt who thought the most biting commentary on the people who tried to overthrow the government was that they probably ate at the Olive Garden and stayed at the Holiday Inn.

This is the man who spent no less than 20 minutes after the Iowa debates going on and on and on about how sure he was that even though it "seemed" like Elizabeth Warren did well, that she probably scared the simple folk of Iowa ... only to be left slack-jawed when 10 out of the 11 people on CNN's Iowa voter panel said they thought she won the debate.

Capping off the very serious monologue, Cooper added, "After last night, none of us can say, 'I didn't know what's out there. I didn't know what's coming."

This was not a "sunshine is the best disinfectant" scenario. There are ways to cover Trump and to cover what he and his followers believe and how very devoted they are without literally handing him the soapbox. CNN knows this, just as they know they can cover that cult in Kenya whose members are starving themselves to death without giving a platform to the leader so that he can reach more people with his message. Anderson Cooper knows this. Additionally, Trump has already been president, we already know what he and his followers are about, and the vast majority of us fully comprehend that it could happen again. This town hall offered exactly zero insight into anything that could not have been gleaned otherwise.

It's kind of incredible that Cooper could dig down and find such graciousness for CNN's terrible decision and understanding for the people who "love their kids and go to church" in the audience cackling about a now-old woman who is a survivor of sexual assault, given that he was more than willing to throw his "best friend" Kathy Griffin under the bus for a (Renaissance-art-based!) joke . Or that he could suggest that Trump was entitled to that airtime simply by virtue of being the frontrunner of a race that has barely even started.

But I guess he had to come up with something.

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