Republican political consultant Matthew Bartlett says CNN's town hall with Trump was rigged to make it look like everyone in the audience was in agreement with Trump, even though many in attendance were "disgusted" and "bewildered," reports Mediaite.
"The floor manager came out ahead of time and said, Please do not boo, please be respectful. You were allowed to applaud," Bartlett told Puck News senior political correspondent Tara Palmeri.
From Mediaite:
Bartlett claimed that, while many in the audience applauded and cheered the former president, "there were also people that sat there quietly disgusted or bewildered." He estimated that while around half of the audience expressed vocal support for Trump, the other half sat in silence. Bartlett also alleged that Trump repeatedly "lost the audience" when he spoke about topics like January 6 or the results of the 2020 election, despite the appearance on CNN that the audience was consistently on his side.
"In a TV setting, you hear the applause, but you don't see the disgust," Bartlett told Palmeri. "So Trump did not have the entire room on his side, make no mistake, even if it certainly came across that way on TV."
