Last week, former President Donald Trump appeared on CNN for a presidential town hall that ended up being watched by over 3 million viewers.
CNN and Trump had, to put it lightly, a complicated relationship that has caused the network to change the contents and employees of their company at multiple facets more times than once. Of course, many conservatives presumed the town hall would be highly biased and overwhelming for the former president, especially after the politically motivated E. Jean Carroll case that Trump was coming fresh off dealing with by the time the event aired on CNN.
Unexpectedly, though, was the weakness that CNN moderator Kaitlan Collins showed throughout the interview. Not only did Trump answer nearly every question Collins had for him entirely, but his response from the attending crowd in New Hampshire was highly palpable.
Whether Trump was responding to Collins' attempted smears by calling her a 'nasty person,' answering questions from audience members with ease, or making the crowd bust out into laughter when he would reply to Collins' aggressiveness, the former President continued to completely dominate the entire event in a fashion that has not been seen on the network since the 2016 presidential debates.
Even progressive politicians and pundits, such as Tom Nichols and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), took to Twitter to complain about CNN's performance or lack of control to keep Trump and his appeal to a minimum due to how well he did in controlling the narrative of the entire event.
In the same way he dominated Kaitlan Collins on a national stage, Trump's poll numbers show he is doing similar, or worse, to his opponents in the 2024 Republican presidential primary. By upwards of thirty points or more, regardless of the pollster, it does not appear as if there is even a close second-place finisher to Trump come next year.
While many thought Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would have a chance at the GOP nod against Trump, his momentum has quickly depleted as Trump's campaign continues to formulate the correct amount of messaging on social media and mainstream outlets.
One of the first examples of Trump's dominance over DeSantis in the GOP presidential battle came in the Republican Primary for the gubernatorial nomination in the state of Kentucky, where Trump-endorsed Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron took on former Ambassador and DeSantis-backed Kelly Craft.
Cameron overwhelmingly won the primary, while Craft finished a distant third in a catastrophic loss for herself and the DeSantis camp. This race was the first actual primary where Trump and DeSantis had been on opposite sides of the spectrum, and the former president embarrassed his adversary gruelingly.
Trump is the thought leader of the current Republican Party. He has formulated the current GOP's views on foreign policy, immigration, trade, and cultural issues in a way no presidential nominee has since Ronald Reagan.
The propping up of opposition candidates like DeSantis, Asa Hutchinson, and Nikki Haley have yet to do anything besides heatTrump's iron in preparation for a rematch with President Joe Biden in 2024.
While there will always be detractors, the former president has proved his dominance and ideological approach to Republicanism is here to stay.
Kenneth David Cody III is a conservative writer and activist from Northeast Tennessee. He also serves as the Southern Regional Director for Republicans for National Renewal, and is chairman of the Cocke County GOP. Mr. Cody is also an Economics and English Teacher at Cosby High School. He has an M.A. in Teaching 6-12th Grade English, from Tusculum University, and a B.A. in English Literature, from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Read Kenny Cody's Reports — More Here.
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