The audience laughed along when he called Carroll a “wack job”. “I have no idea who this woman is. This is a fake story.” He then called CNN’s moderator,Kaitlan Collins,“a nasty person”.
He lied continuously about the 2020 election,raising allegations of election fraud that have been repeatedly debunked. And he showed no contrition for behaviour around the 2020 election that has sparked criminal investigations in Washington and Georgia.
OnUS debt,he counselled Congress to allow the federal government to default in June if President Joe Biden does not come the Republicans’ way on deep spending cuts. A default could precipitate another global economic crisis. Trump shrugged:“Might as well do it now because we’re going to do it later.”
In one of the few overtures to swing voters,Trump repeatedly dodged questions on whether he would sign a nationwide abortion ban or say at what stage of pregnancy abortion should be illegal. “What I will do is negotiate so that people are happy,” he said.
And he hedged on the future of US military aid to Ukraine,saying that Europe needed to spend more and that his emphasis would be ending the war,not ensuring Ukraine’s victory.
CNN had been criticised by some Democrats for giving Trump,the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination,such a platform. And from the outset,Trump showed how difficult a live television interview can be,although his bluster did not seem calibrated to appeal to swing voters.