Trump advisers used outraged AOC tweets to pump him up backstage during CNN town hall: report
May 15, 2023
Former President Donald Trump's advisers pumped him up during his CNN town hall by showing him supportive social media posts at commercial breaks.
The ex-president acted more aggressive toward moderator Kaitlan Collins after the first commercial break, when his longtime adviser Jason Miller showed him freshly posted tweets from prominent Democrats criticizing the network's decision to host the event and declaring Trump the winner, reported Axios.
"He was the leader of the free world again," said one Trump confidant.
Trump had been getting frustrated by Collins' questions and fact checks, but the backstage pep talk -- which included tweets from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Andrew Yang and the Lincoln Project -- seemed to boost his spirits.
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"Jason Miller was trying to pump his boss up, was trying to get him motivated," said Axios correspondent Alex Thompson. "You know, his version of a halftime locker room speech was to show Donald Trump some tweets. We saw that he was showing Donald Trump how the town hall was playing in real time. He showed tweets from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, showing they were criticizing CNN for how they were handling the town hall. They essentially were saying that Donald Trump was doing well. Jason Miller said, 'Keep doing what you are doing.' That's why Donald Trump came in and tried to steamroll over Kaitlan Collins. Donald Trump's team thought it went so well, they're in talks with other networks to do other town halls."
Trump's team is also trying to set up in-depth interviews as the former president campaigns for a second term in office, and he kept up his attacks on Collins and gloated about the coverage in a late-night social media post.
"It’s really amazing to watch the head of CNN get absolutely lambasted for asking me to do a so-called Town Hall," Trump posted on his Truth Social network. "In all fairness, nobody had any problems with what he wanted to do until after the show started, when they quickly realized that Ms. Collins was not exactly Barbara Walters, or even close. That’s when the trouble from the Radical Left started. Neurotic little AOC with the bad looking boyfriend, went crazy. 'He owns CNN, he’s in their head,' they screamed. CNN, take the GREAT RATINGS!"
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