I think CNN thought that they were going to destroy former President Donald Trump during their town hall in New Hampshire on Wednesday. They thought host Kaitlan Collins was going to ask tough questions and make Trump look silly.

But it ended up making CNN look bad (that’s assuming they could look any worse than they already do). Collins did not help herself at all. She looked unprofessional, interrupting and trying to speak over Trump when he was trying to answer the questions. At one point, when she kept interrupting, he called her “nasty” to the delight of the audience, although he was calm and effective in most of his responses and his communication with the audience. He got across a lot of points. The audience, as we reported, was loving the answers that he was giving. He also spoke about Ashli Babbitt and E. Jean Carroll, as my colleagues reported.

After the town hall, CNN’s Gary Tuchman spoke with eight members of the audience, most of whom were Trump supporters. One of the interesting things about their response was that they felt the same way about Trump after the event, it didn’t make them think more or less of him. But CNN immediately got hammered with their first question. Tuchman didn’t act as much like a moderator trying to get their opinion as a Democratic propagandist trying to impose his own opinion on them. He prefaced his question by saying Trump was a liar and then asked about Trump talking about 2020 during the interview. Does it bother you that he keeps talking about 2020 and not 2024, Tuchman asked a 40-year-old audience member.

After Trump destroys CNN, Trump voters continue the demolition.

This clip is perfection.

pic.twitter.com/dEwlJQJXWH

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) May 11, 2023

The audience member looked at Tuchman like he had three heads and said, “Part of it’s also the media narrative.” He noted that the first question that CNN asked was about 2020, that’s why Trump was talking about it. “Couldn’t the media ask about 2024?” he suggested pointedly.

Could it get any better than that? That had Tuchman scrambling backwards and having to admit well yes, they were concerned about it — “That’s something that was on our mind” — that’s why that was their first question. Exactly. Yes, Trump talks about it and yes, Americans want to hear about 2024. But it’s the media who want to focus solely on 2020 and on Jan. 6, and things they think might hurt Trump as opposed to policies or the successes he had as president. Trump had plenty to say about the current situation and what he would do to make things better right now, after the disaster of Joe Biden. He spoke about the economy, the Second Amendment, abortion, the crisis at the border, and Ukraine, among other topics.

Here’s a sample:

New Hampshire Voter: "If elected president again, what is the first thing you would do to help bring down the cost to make things more affordable?"

TRUMP: "Drill, baby, drill." pic.twitter.com/e9ZXOY73I8

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) May 11, 2023

But even in the focus group, CNN wouldn’t ask about that, they again focused on 2020.

So CNN needs to take a look in the mirror and at its honesty. They thought they could take out Trump with this effort, but instead, they failed miserably and only served to make themselves look worse.