The View’s Sunny Hostin was unforgiving in her assessment of Kailtan Collins’ handling of Wednesday night’s disastrous Donald Trump town hall, insisting the CNN anchor wasn’t “prepared” and “needed a producer in her ear” throughout the chaotic event.
While CNN has been on the receiving end of widespread backlash—including from staffers—over its decision to host the ex-president before a friendly audience, Collins has been spared from much of the criticism. CNN boss Chris Licht doubled down on his support for Collins’ “masterful performance,” and critics have noted that the host was burdened with the impossible task of trying to fact-check and curtail Trump as he relentlessly spewed lies and conspiracy theories.
“Kaitlan Collins exemplified what it means to be a world-class journalist. She asked tough, fair and revealing questions,” CNN said in a statement after the town hall. “And she followed up and fact-checked President Trump in real time to arm voters with crucial information about his positions as he enters the 2024 election as the Republican frontrunner. That is CNN’s role and responsibility: to get answers and hold the powerful to account.”
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During Thursday’s broadcast of The View, co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin—also a CNN analyst—echoed those same sentiments, praising Collins’ performance while asserting that the event actually exposed Trump as a “ranting lunatic” who sides with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“To be honest, I didn’t like the platform. But I also want to say this, because I know she’s getting flack from some folks, Kaitlan Collins did a masterful job,” Griffin noted, prompting Hostin to interject.
“Masterful job? Wow,” the longtime View panelist exclaimed.
“As a young woman, seeing a 30-year-old journalist take it to one of the most powerful men in the world,” Griffin continued as Hostin tossed out snide asides. “She got in there… it’s really easy to Monday morning quarterback it, but she stood there and she kept her cool when he called her sexist things. He called her a ‘nasty’ woman.”
Hostin then proceeded to Monday morning quarterback it.
“Well, that was an hour in,” she said, casually dismissing Trump’s misogynistic attack on the CNN anchor.
“I don’t think that she was prepared,” Hostin judged. “I don’t think he should have been given a platform. I was wondering when he was going to be fact-checked in real-time.”
In defense of Collins, Griffin shot back that the anchor had fact-checked Trump “on the very first question,” only for Hostin to continue to pick apart the CNN star’s performance.
“I think she needed a producer in her ear. We needed a chyron, this is a lie, this is a lie, this is a lie,” she declared as the audience roared in approval.
“That’s what the media’s job is. The media’s job is to hold their feet to the fire and to get at the truth,” Hostin added before running down a litany of falsehoods Trump uttered during the event.
Eventually, Hostin got around to Trump’s repeated false claim that he had built hundreds of miles of border wall during his presidency, something Griffin pointed out that Collins had fact-checked him on “about 20 times” throughout the town hall.
“But you know what she didn’t do? She didn’t mention that Mexico didn’t pay for the wall! We paid for the wall,” Hostin fired back as the in-studio crowd once again cheered.
