The Trump Circus returns to CNN

Get the Point!

Tonight, at 8:00 pm ET, the Trump Circus returns to a big top near you, oops, I meant CNN, for the first time since 2016!

If you are like me, you are probably wondering how CNN, one of the so-called “Fake News” media networks that the former president has derided since his very first campaign began back in 2015, could allow its powerful platform to be used in primetime by Mr. Trump?

Well, the simple answer comes down to one word: “ratings.”

CNN, like most mainstream news sites, depends heavily upon advertising dollars—advertising dollars that depend heavily upon eyes or clicks on sites. Now, smaller media organizations like the Hobbservation Point enjoy having clicks and viewers too, but fortunately for this blog, many readers are loyal donors/subscribers, a fact that allows Ol' Hobbs to give perspectives free from pandering, boot licking, or buck dancing for ad dollars!

So, just as the Hobbservation Point understands CNN's “why,” I also get Mr. Trump's why; simply stated, ever since the former president used his Twitter and Facebook platforms to spread his “Big Lie” that the 2020 election was stolen, which was followed by his call for MAGA followers to travel to Washington, D.C. to “Stop the Steal,” a call that led to five deaths and over $50 million dollars in damages to the Capitol Complex, he has been a pariah on every mainstream social media platform.

The January 6th MAGA riot was the brain child of the former president, Donald Trump, who still could face criminal charges for insurrection…

For that reason, tonight's CNN Town Hall allows Trump to return from mainstream media exile like Napoleon Bonaparte returned from Elba in his unsuccessful attempt to retake France in 1815. While Napoleon “met his Waterloo” and was soundly defeated by the Duke of Wellington three months after his return, whether Trump will be similarly defeated in his third presidential bid remains murky.

Napoleon Bonaparte circa 1812

But what's crystal clear at this point, at least according to numerous polls, is that Trump most certainly will get a rematch with President Joe Biden, “The Brawl on the National Mall" as we call it at HP, after he easily cruises to the Republican presidential nomination next Spring.

CNN's Kaitlan Collins has been assigned the Herculean labor of moderating tonight's forum. Herculean in that Mr. Trump has a history of being bitingly nasty and inappropriate to women journalists, from former MSNBC host Meghan Kelly to E. Jean Carroll, the journalist who won a $5 million dollar settlement for sexual abuse and defamation against the former president earlier this week, to Collins herself during her tenure as White House correspondent…

I know, I know, who would have ever thought that a man who was impeached not once, but twice; a man who has been indicted for lying about paying hush money to porno paramours during his first presidential run; a man who faces criminal indictment for seeking to steal the Georgia Electoral College vote in 2020 AND for stoking up the January 6th MAGA riots in 2021; a man who, just yesterday, was found liable by a jury of six men and three women of sexually abusing and defaming journalist E. Jean Carroll, could survive these and other scandals to become the Republican nominee yet again?

The simple answer is that the very man that millions of Democrats and left-leaning Independents find deplorable, is the same man that millions of Republicans and right-leaning Independents still find dazzling! So much so that a recent CBS News-YouGov survey has Trump leading his next closest Republican rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, 58 percent to 22 percent among likely Republican Primary voters.

DeSantis (left) and Trump both lead President Joe Biden in the latest Washington Post/ABC Poll…

And before you get too secure, Democrats, do know that a recent Washington Post/ABC poll shows Mr. Trump leading President Biden 44 percent to 38 percent with a margin of error of +/- four percentage points, while Mr. DeSantis leads Biden by a 42-37 marking in the same poll.

I post the above polling data not to spread fear—just seven years ago, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton was up by as many as 12 percentage points over Trump just two weeks before Election Day, and we all saw how that ended disastrously for her campaign! Thus, it is crucial that those of us who take politics seriously begin to realize that Trump 2.0 is a very real possibility if left leaning turnout is not enthusiastically high in November of 2024 (and with all of the complaints about Joe Biden on social and traditional media websites, high left leaning turnout is far from a certainty at this time).

Now, if you are saying to yourself, “Hobbs, I'm sorry, but I just don't have the stomach to listen to Trump at a Town Hall meeting this early,” trust, I get it. Don't watch! Nothing upsets the media bosses more than low ratings, so there is no need for the masses to watch what could very likely be a hot mess tonight on CNN. Indeed, we all remember how Trump never grew (or grew up) in the Oval Office during his four years, and he has three years of post-presidential pent up anger that is bound to explode should he face hardball questions later this evening about any of his indiscretions and screw ups. To that end, I will “take one for the team” and watch and report on the proceedings in this blog space tomorrow as expected.

Stay tuned…