How A form Of Mass Psychosis Infected The Audience At The CNN Town Hall Wednesday Night

 

 

"Those weren't undecided voters.It was a pep rally for Donald Trump where they mocked and ridiculed the CNN anchor, where they mocked and ridiculed a woman who was sexually abused by the man on stage. They were applauding. What was with that audience? How was that audience selected?"-  Joe Scarborough, Morning Joe, MSNBC, yesterday

"People may come to think Mr. Trump’s malice and crazy are a price they can pay to get back to how it was when they felt less besieged. They might assume he’s learned at least some practical lessons from his mistakes in 2017-21. But he hasn’t. That’s what the town hall told us: He’s exactly the same guy."  Peggy Noonan, WSJ, p. A15

The media travesty that unfolded Wednesday night is now history, but of the most sordid kind. In particular, it showed not only the cratering of a once proud cable news network (CNN) but also the spectacle of a depraved audience captivated by the "evil charisma" (Stephanie Ruhle's term) for 75 minutes. All that time mentally occupied by the animated fungal pustulence known as Donald Trump - or rather Traitor Trump.  The worst aspect?  

The total absence of any on the spot fact checks or accountability - say from a competent moderator - which Kaitlan Collins was not, ensured chaos and Trumpist toxicity. As wifey put it: "That girl looked like a doe caught in a locomotive's lights on a train track which then got pulverized as it ran over her."  Thus the town hall turned into a 75 minute prime-time infomercial within the total control of Trump.  And we've seen this foolishness before, back in 2015 when Trump was interviewed by MSNBC's Katy Tur:

"The Donald" Paddles NBC's Katy Tur In Forgettable Interview 

Then I had written:

"Fragile, doe-eyed Katy was literally "taken to the woodshed" by "Headmaster" Trump from the get go. It was almost too much to watch but I forced myself to do so, hoping at some point Katy would find an opening to force Trump to STFU and back off. It never came. At one point, wifey - listening from the next room- asked: "What is wrong with that girl? She sounds like she's out of her depth!"

Perhaps it was NBC's aim to send a young, amiable but naïve  sacrificial lamb to the slaughter. Why not send a veteran with some degree of gravitas like Lester Holt, "

This time around was just as bad as Trump repeatedly dodged or sneered at questions from Kaitlan Collins, and at one point when she pressed him on why he removed classified documents from the White House, he barked: “You are a nasty person.'  

At that point, she should have pulled the plug and sent the swine back to Mar-a-lago.  But she didn't So this orange turd doubled down on false claims that “a rigged election” led to his 2020 ouster and referred to writer E. Jean Carroll, who just prevailed in her lawsuit against him for defamation and battery, as a “whack job,”.

And this is where the most vile aspect of the evening emerged, as Stephanie Ruhle noted. The pustulating predator claimed Carroll was promiscuous for going into a dressing room at a department store with him, and also that he never met her. He complained that he had not been allowed to introduce the name of her pet cat as evidence against her at trial. And he referred to her accusation of rape as “hanky-panky”. At this juncture the crowd of Trumper voters chuckled and cheered.

It was the stacking of the hundred or so assembled with these freaks, nitwits and psychos that turned the town hall into another Trump rally - lacking any scintilla of news, journalism, or truth.

They laughed, too, when Trump referred to former Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi as “crazy Nancy”. And they laughed when Trump belched his  “You’re a nasty person, I’ll tell ya,”  at Collins.   This and other outbursts from the "peanut gallery" led me to question my tenured Psychology prof niece Shayl on what was happening, what was going on in this perversion of a town hall.

Shayl, as usual, was unsparing and blunt in her assessments.  As she noted:

"It's typical ape clan display of submission to the alpha ape, Trump.  After all, on his arrival they gave him a standing ovation, thereby each and every one presenting their collective posteriors to him as a show of submission.  Each subsequent cheering and laughing further solidified his ownership of them, and they in turn had to show obeisance with their response. Typical ape behavior. Even some of those women in one row who didn't clap or laugh at Trump's mocking of his victim, remained in attendance as the males behind them howled and clapped. They knew their place and had to submit to the beta ape males."

The mass psychosis aspect she also addressed, observing:  "They were already in a state of near psychosis when they arrived, by the fact they had believed all of Trump's lies previously heard.  Their standing ovation confirmed it.  All of them have been rendered unstable political hostages to Trump."

Thus, by Shayl's hypothesis, attendees in the audience of 300 or so, were already primed for psychosis merely being in the presence of Trump's bombast and lies. This isn't Shayl's own theory by any means and was originally cited (p. 137) in Harvey A. Hornstein's book, 'Cruelty and Kindness: A New Look At Altruism and Aggression'.  Specifically where he cites (ibid.) Stanley Milgram's experiments on obedience to authority. The key is being in an "Agentic state", i.e. being an autonomous agent for one's own decisions as opposed to being a cooperative puppet.

 Too many in Milgram's experiments lost their agenticity and became perpetrators of harm. In much the same way, too many (not all) audience members in the CNN Town Hall surrendered their agenticity once Trump stepped onto the stage and false deference was displayed by the moderator. Including calling him "Mr. President" then allowing him to spout the most vicious lies, as well as calling for the Reep House to enable a default of our debt. The setting for mass psychosis then took hold with the cheering and howls of laughter at the verbal abuse of Trump's sexual assault victim, E. Jean Carroll.

Thankfully, the final outcome showed CNN's debased efforts to grab ratings probably weren't worth the effort. Nielsen reported just 3.1 million viewers overall. That was a boost over CNN’s typical 8 p.m. telecast, but a smaller audience than CNN’s town hall with President Biden last summer (3.7 million).

The more profound impact, however, may be the long term damage done to the reputation of the network that has long promoted itself as “the most trusted name in news.”  Even CNN's own journalists called the town hall a “debacle,” a “disaster” and “CNN’s lowest moment.” On Twitter, the hashtags and phrases BoycottCNN, DoneWithCNN and ByeCNN trended late Wednesday.

The rest of this farce was true to form and followed Trump's debased style, such as beatifying the traitor Ashli Babbitt, the Capitol rioter shot dead,  to vowing to pardon most of the January 6 insurrectionists and seditionists now behind bars. For Trump and his minions, law and order hinges on “who” and “whom”. As for E Jean Carroll, Trump ridiculed her and the $5m verdict - but he may now pay through the ass again- as she considers bringing another lawsuit.   

Chris Hayes' guest on ALL In last night, Rep. Adam Schiff, was emphatic that Trump poses a "mortal danger" to our democracy. Worse, this imp gets more malignant each time he escapes accountability.  As Rep. Schiff put it: "The man is a consummate grifter and criminal. Should he reclaim power this nation will look radically different from how it looks now."

And as another guest from the Lincoln Project put it in a later segment, "We can't just assume he will die on his own."

Stay tuned.

See Also:

Donald Trump

Trump’s Deposition vs. CNN Town Hall: He’s a Coward Without a Bloodthirsty MAGA Crowd

by Amanda Marcotte | May 13, 2023 - 7:08am | permalink

— from Salon

Donald Trump's "town hall" on CNN Wednesday night was exactly what all the critics warned it would be: A fascist rally, with host Kaitlan Collins cast in the role of the scapegoat for the Trump-led crowd to vent their bilious rage toward anyone criticizing their tin god. Trump fed on the bloodthirsty crowd's energy. He was a hate vampire, swelling with pride as they cheered on the "I am your retribution" act, which is equal parts unfunny insult comedy and bragging about how many crimes he's committed. Their cheering was especially enthusiastic when he mocked one of his sexual assault victims: E. Jean Carroll.

And:

CNN

Why Did CNN Do It?

by Robert Reich | May 12, 2023 - 7:11am | permalink

— from Robert Reich's Substack

Why in hell did CNN give Donald Trump a full hour of prime-time television before an audience of ardent supporters who applauded every lie and laughed at every sexist insult?

CNN CEO defends MAGA town hall audience that cheered Trump and laughed at sexual abuse | Salon.com

And:

Video: CNN Town Hall Audience Cheering and Thanking Donald Trump (businessinsider.com)

And:

• "He is confessing on live TV": Legal experts say Trump's CNN town hall could badly backfire in court

And:

CNN’s Trump Town Hall Was a Total Disaster | The New Republic