CNN likely had more viewers of their town hall event with President Donald Trump Wednesday night than most of their regular shows combined. It was the first time I’d watched more than a clip from the network in years.
Knowing the advertising boom this brought for them, it was odd that they cut off the interview over 20-minutes longer than they had allotted. Congressman Matt Gaetz has a theory:
Did CNN cut it short because Trump was doing SO WELL? I’ve never seen a Town Hall get called like a “Mercy Rule” before. Did that really happen?
Did CNN cut it short because Trump was doing SO WELL?
I’ve never seen a Town Hall get called like a “Mercy Rule” before.
Did that really happen? https://t.co/MOemyuO1Tu
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) May 11, 2023
Of course, CNN would never admit to it. They’d likely not think of that way themselves. They would justify it by saying they didn’t want to give Trump a platform to “continue lying” or something like that. But other than a couple of unflattering responses, he handled the event spectacularly and came out looking like the Trump of old — unapologetic and ready to sit in the Oval Office.
Even radical Democrat Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez agreed it was a debacle.
This falls squarely on CNN. Everyone here saw exactly what was going to happen. Instead they put a sexual abuse victim in harm’s way for views. This was a choice to platform lies about the election & Jan 6th w/ no plan but to have their moderator interrupted without consequence.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 11, 2023
This was supposed to be a trap and CNN executives were giddy over the prospects of Donald Trump walking willingly into it. The reality ended up reminding me of a line from Watchmen (graphic): “None of you seem to understand. I’m not locked in here with you. You’re locked in here with me.”
Independent Journalism Is Dying
Ever since President Trump’s miraculous victory, we’ve heard an incessant drumbeat about how legacy media is dying. This is true. The people have awakened to the reality that they’re being lied to by the self-proclaimed “Arbiters of Truth” for the sake of political expediency, corporate self-protection, and globalist ambitions.
But even as independent journalism rises to fill the void left by legacy media, there is still a huge challenge. Those at the top of independent media like Joe Rogan, Dan Bongino, and Tucker Carlson are thriving and rightly so. They have earned their audience and the financial rewards that come from it. They’ve taken risks and worked hard to get to where they are.
For “the rest of us,” legacy media and their proxies are making it exceptionally difficult to survive, let alone thrive. They still have a stranglehold over the “fact checkers” who have a dramatic impact on readership and viewership. YouTube, Facebook, and Google still stifle us. The freer speech platforms like Rumble and 𝕏 can only reward so many of their popular content creators. For independent journalists on the outside looking in, our only recourse is to rely on affiliates and sponsors.
But even as it seems nearly impossible to make a living, there are blessings that should not be disregarded. By highlighting strong sponsors who share our America First worldview, we have been able to make lifelong connections and even a bit of revenue to help us along. This is why we enjoy symbiotic relationships with companies like MyPillow, Jase Medical, and Promised Grounds. We help them with our recommendations and they reward us with money when our audience buys from them.
The same can be said about our preparedness sponsor, Prepper All-Naturals. Their long-term storage beef has a 25-year shelf life and is made with one ingredient: All-American Beef.
Even our faith-driven precious metals sponsor helps us tremendously while also helping Americans protect their life’s savings. We are blessed to work with them.
Independent media is the future. In many ways, that future is already here. While the phrase, “the more the merrier,” does not apply to this business because there are still some bad actors in the independent media field, there are many great ones that do not get nearly enough attention. We hope to change that one content creator at a time.
Thank you and God Bless,
JD Rucker
