Senate Democrat says he ‘had a little bit of PTSD’ watching Trump town hall

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) joined a chorus of Democratic voices bashing former President Trump for his town hall Wednesday on CNN, saying he had “a little bit of PTSD watching that last night.”

“As someone who was at the Cleveland presidential debate where President Trump ran right over Chris Wallace … I had a little bit of PTSD watching that last night,” Coons said Thursday on CNN.

“I can’t imagine why anyone is surprised that they thought former President Trump would be any more normal, would follow any guardrails.”

Coons, who is co-chair of President Biden’s 2024 reelection campaign, is among a plethora of Democratic lawmakers who have come out to criticize Trump for his performance in the town hall Wednesday.

The former president aggressively pushed his debunked theory that the 2020 election was stolen, mocked claims that he raped writer E. Jean Carroll, called a Black police officer a “thug,” and called CNN moderator Kaitlan Collins a “nasty person” when she pressed him on his handling of classified material.

Coons said Trump’s appearance showcased the difference between the former president and Biden ahead of a potential 2024 rematch.

“I do think this helps define what a general election season between President Biden, who will continue to be rational, normal, orderly president, and former President Trump, who treats the presidency as entertainment and as a wrestling cage match,” Coons said.

That contrast is one that the Biden campaign attempted to pounce on immediately following the town hall, with the president tweeting out a link to a fundraising page with the question: “Do you want four more years of that?”

While Coons took aim at Trump over the town hall, many Democrats also criticized CNN for giving the former president a national prime-time platform. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said that the network should be “ashamed.”

“CNN should be ashamed of themselves,” the New York Democrat tweeted. “They have lost total control of this ‘town hall’ to again be manipulated into platforming election disinformation, defenses of Jan 6th, and a public attack on a sexual abuse victim. The audience is cheering him on and laughing at the host.”