MSNBC anchor Chris Hayes explained on Wednesday night why he disagrees with rival network CNN hosting a town hall for former President Donald Trump. Trump, Hayes said in part, is “the guy who tried to kill American democracy.”
Trump will participate in a CNN presidential town hall on May 10, moderated by “CNN This Morning” anchor Kaitlan Collins. About that, Hayes expressed concerns that Trump could say anything on live TV and there’s no taking it back.
“If he is given live airtime, there is no way to know if he will do something like, I don’t know, give out the personal information about the DA,” Hayes said, referring to the District Attorney of New York. “Something that once said on the live broadcast cannot be unsaid and undone.”
Hayes added, “So I find it very hard to defend the choice to give him a live platform, no matter how it is dressed up. But that’s one of the challenges he presents as networks begin the work of campaign coverage during a presidential election, which centers on the guy who tried to kill American democracy.”
MSNBC has decided in the recent past not to air Trump live on its network. Hayes explained why as he showed a clip of his colleague Rachel Maddow, who said about one recent Trump event that the former president was merely giving a campaign speech and there wasn’t anything “newsworthy,” about it.
“Broad decisions about how to cover Trump have been ubiquitous since he first ran for president back in 2015, but this decision was made in the context of a man who used his public platform to incite a violent insurrection against the United States government,” Hayes said.
Someone, Hayes continued, “who repeatedly lies in the most pernicious way on TV.”
Watch the clip at the top of the page now.