Trump celebrates CNN town hall ratings: ‘Many minds were changed’

Former President Trump on Thursday shared his excitement over the ratings from his CNN town hall, claiming in a series of social media posts that many minds “were changed.”

“People are criticizing CNN for giving me a Forum to tell the TRUTH. I believe it was a very smart thing that they did, with Sky High Ratings that they haven’t seen in a very long time,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “It was by far the biggest Show of the night, the week, and the month!”

Trump also called out opponents who were urging the news network to stop airing his town hall event, noting that he was making “important” points regarding ongoing issues such as the Russia-Ukraine war, inflation, and the border.

“The Radical Left screamed, “Take it down, take it down,” during the Show, because they saw that I was making so many important points on the Border, Energy Independence, the Afghanistan Catastrophe, Inflation, the Economy, Russia/Ukraine, and so much more,” Trump posted Thursday. “Many minds were changed on Wednesday night by listening to Common Sense, and sheer “Brilliance.” 

The former president also linked to a New York Times article which details CNN CEO Chris Licht’s defense of the network’s decision to broadcast the live town hall event in light of Trump’s recent legal woes.

CNN’s hourlong town hall event, moderated by anchor Kaitlan Collins, netted 3.3 million total viewers Wednesday night, according to Nielsen Media Research data.

That’s more than triple the viewers CNN has recorded in past weeks but is less than the size of the audience that have watched Trump events on Fox News and other networks over the years. 

CNN has also received massive backlash for its decision, as prominent Democratic figures and media watchdogs grilled the network for giving Trump a platform to continue to spew false claims about the 2020 election.