Report: CNN's Trump Town Hall Debacle May Have Ushered Forth Network's Next Casualty

As RedState previously reported, CNN’s New Hampshire town hall featuring 2024 GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump was a dumpster fire – not for the former president, who pretty much dominated the event, but for the struggling “news” network.

The event produced hurt feelings among what’s left of CNN’s viewers and infighting galore, with on-air meltdowns and conference calls where so-called “journalists” expressed their frustrations to CEO Chris Licht, who took a “move along, nothing here to see” approach to the controversy.

Leading the way among the CNN staff pouters has been their media reporter Oliver Darcy, formerly the poodle-like sidekick to ex-CNN media hall monitor Brian Stelter. In the aftermath of the town hall, Darcy penned a newsletter which heavily criticized his network over the Trump broadcast, stating right from the top that in his view, “It’s hard to see how America was served by the spectacle of lies that aired on CNN Wednesday evening.”

In response, some staffers and executives were reportedly incensed by Darcy’s blatantly biased and questionable framing, so much so that Licht called a tense meeting with Darcy, which was said to have left the wildly partisan media figure who is well-known for his one-sided reporting “visibly shaken.”

Fast forward a few days, and we’re now learning from the well-regarded media source who first brought us behind-the-scenes predictions (which turned out to be correct) on how Don Lemon’s days were numbered that Darcy might be next on the list to be told by Licht and company to exit stage left:

This is from my Discovery source back in February about Dom Lemon. Spoke to them this weekend. They said the “atmosphere is the same this time for Oliver Darcy’s long term future” at CNN. https://t.co/rQqlAybcpz

— Jon Nicosia (@NewsPolitics) May 14, 2023

“They believe he is a conduit for a lot of the morale issues within the company (ie Trump Town Hall reaction, etc),” Nicosia went on to suggest, “along with their suspicion that he is the source for many of the leaks to external reporters on personnel issues within CNN.”

My thought on this, as well of those of my fellow media critics, was why now? I mean Darcy’s bias and penchant for sounding like a cheerleader for the Very Online Left was very obvious way before now:

They could’ve avoided this if they’d just fired both Stelter and Darcy at the same time. It never made any sense.

— David X. Henry (@imau2fan) May 15, 2023

One of Licht’s stated goals upon arrival at CNN was to make the them at least appear to be neutral rather than on any particular political team. It was likely the basis for why they booted Stelter, John Harwood, and several others. He also indicated he wanted to be less about bashing Trump and more about simply “bringing the news” to people.

While he definitely brought Trump back to CNN despite six or so years of constant battling between the two, he saw fit to leave Darcy onboard despite the fact that Darcy has for years now been exactly the type of “reporter” at which any news organization that wants to come off as a serious contender in the news industry would laugh.

So, if Darcy is indeed the next one to get his walking papers, no doubt his critics will say “better late than never.” But what Licht should feel obligated to explain, in my opinion, is exactly what took him so long.