Hell Freezes Over: Trump to Participate in CNN New Hampshire Town Hall

Mike Miller reporting for RedState 

OK, maybe Hell hasn’t completely frozen over but the temperature is cold as hell and falling by the minute. Former President Donald Trump has agreed to appear at a CNN town hall in New Hampshire on May 10, The Most Trusted Name in News™ announced on Monday. I know!

While the event will no doubt be a sorely needed ratings boost for the struggling media outlet, the question is why Trump agreed to do it, given his years-long beatdown — with good reason — of “Fake News” CNN. Toss in Trump’s assumed early front-runner status, and it’s damn puzzling.

Let’s just say I didn’t have “Trump participates in CNN town hall” on my bingo card. You?

CNN further reported that “CNN This Morning” anchor Kaitlan Collins will moderate the town hall at St. Anselm College, which will air at 9 p.m. ET on May 10. Trump will take questions from New Hampshire Republicans and undeclared voters who plan to vote in the 2024 Republican presidential primary.

While most of the questions should be somewhat predictable, Trump shouldn’t experience any serious gotcha questions or attacks if he’s properly prepared by aides to anticipate the probable topics. The wildcard will be how Collins monitors the town hall, and whether she goes after the former president the way every other CNN reporter, host, or contributor has done for more than seven years.

Let’s spare ourselves the negative Trumpian legal news and such, and instead ponder his agreement to appear on CNN, the worst of all “news” outlets — other than laughable MSNBC, of course.

In light of Trump’s recent TruthSocial post suggesting he’ll refuse to participate in the GOP presidential primary debates, it strikes me as odd that he apparently has no problem willfully entering the belly of the beast, Republican questioners or not. Then again, other than potential pushback from CNN’s Collins, Trump would no doubt rather face questions from an at least somewhat friendly audience than go one-on-one with Vivek Ramaswamy, for example, who on Sunday said he wouldn’t let the former president get away with dodging the primary debates.

I’m not gonna let him get away with that. I don’t think the other candidates, including Donald Trump, are gonna relish being on that debate stage with me.

What people gave him credit for was that he was [an] outsider and a disrupter. I’m the outsider in this race. And I think that if you want to be like Joe Biden, an existing establishment that doesn’t want to debate, I think people are hungry for new blood.

I say let the debate begin — literally, that is.

“The town hall will stream live for pay TV subscribers via CNN.com and CNN OTT and mobile apps under ‘TV Channels, or CNNgo where available. The town hall will also be available On Demand beginning Thursday, May 11 to pay TV subscribers via CNN.com, CNN apps, and Cable Operator Platforms,” the network announced.

Cya there — and bring your own popcorn.