The News Caravan

Tag: audience

  • Trump world booked CNN hoping for a big audience. Now, they’re in the thick of it.

    Trump world booked CNN hoping for a big audience. Now, they’re in the thick of it.

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    The verdict comes on the eve of Trump’s town hall in New Hampshire moderated by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, a 31-year-old anchor and correspondent who gained a reputation for challenging Trump while she covered the White House.

    Trump signaled that he would take a combative approach to any questions around the case, writing on Truth Social immediately after the verdict that he had “ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA” who Carroll was, and that the “VERDICT IS A DISGRACE – A CONTINUATION OF THE GREATEST WITCH HUNT OF ALL TIME!” He had spent part of the day recording policy videos.

    Trump advisers had been negotiating for weeks with CNN, which approached them earlier this year about the idea of doing a sit-down. Trump’s decision to agree to the town hall was seen as an implicit jab at Fox News, which he has clashed with in recent months, and at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has eschewed interviews with mainstream media outlets in favor of friendly conservative ones.

    The verdict immediately split Republicans on Capitol Hill with some saying it should give voters pause and others arguing that it was a continuation of biased prosecution against the former president. That schism quickly became evident among Republicans on the campaign trail as well.

    Vivek Ramaswamy, who quickly defended Trump after news broke of his criminal indictment a month ago, on Tuesday did the same.

    “I wasn’t one of the jurors and I’m not privy to all of the facts that they have, but I’ll say what everyone else is privately thinking,” Ramaswamy said in a statement to POLITICO. “If the defendant weren’t named Donald Trump, would there even be a lawsuit?”

    Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who called for Trump to drop out of the race after his indictment, said the jury’s verdict should be taken seriously “and is another example of the indefensible behavior of Donald Trump.”

    “Over the course of my over 25 years of experience in the courtroom, I have seen firsthand how a cavalier and arrogant contempt for the rule of law can backfire,” Hutchinson said in a statement.

    Mike Pence, Nikki Haley and Tim Scott didn’t speak to the verdict.

    Trump’s support and fundraising have only strengthened in the aftermath of past legal flashpoints, including his indictment over his alleged involvement in a hush money payment scheme to a porn star.

    Sarah Longwell, a political strategist and founder of the anti-Trump Republican Accountability Project, said she conducted a focus group last week in which two-time Trump voters were asked about the Carroll lawsuit. Just one of the seven voters, a woman, had heard of it — “and she didn’t believe her,” Longwell said.

    Throughout other recent focus groups with Republican voters, Longwell and her staff have remarked internally about how Trump’s support is “the fiercest” among women who have already supported him twice.

    “I wish things were different, but I can’t see this changing anything in a Republican primary,” Longwell said of the sexual abuse verdict Tuesday. “The things that are going to change anything in a Republican primary are if the field — his opponents for 2024 — show some political backbone and political talent and ability to capture some of the oxygen that he is sucking up.”

    A recent NBC News poll found that two thirds of Republican voters believe the investigations are “politically motivated attempt to stop Trump.” But some party strategists are convinced it could hamper his prospects in a general election where he would have to reach beyond his loyal base.

    RNC chair Ronna McDaniel was pressed by Fox News’ Martha McCallum over whether or not the Carroll ruling or the hush money scheme verdict could have a negative impact on suburban and women voters. McDaniel deflected, and said that women are more focused on President Joe Biden’s disappointing administration.

    “I think we have a long way until the primary process begins, we have debates in August,” McDaniel said. “I think a lot of women are incredibly disappointed with the Biden administration so they’ll be looking at the Republican nominee, whoever that is, to put forward an opposing vision and one that will help suburban moms and kids and families across the country.”

    But the question, which McCallum repeated again with other guests, underscores how that cohort of female and suburban women voters could potentially impact Trump. While Trump did better with women in 2020 than in 2016, Biden led among women in the last election by 11 points.

    How Trump will handle discussing the lawsuit at the CNN town hall is hardly a mystery, said Dave Carney, a New Hampshire-based Republican strategist.

    “He will spin it, and we could write that script right now,” Carney said soon after the verdict was issued. “‘Judge who hates me, a lady made this up, and blah, blah, blah.’ He will definitely have something to say about it.”

    And he did, following that script almost exactly in posts he made on his social media website throughout the evening Tuesday.

    But for a candidate who won the 2016 election mere weeks after a recording was published of him bragging about being able to sexually assault women, “none of this is new,” Carney said, and it’s unlikely voters are still trying to make up their mind about Trump’s character.

    “Do I think any different eyeball is going to watch this show that wasn’t going to watch it beforehand? No,” Carney said of the Wednesday town hall. “Do I think any undecided voter was thinking ‘I don’t know about that Trump guy, I’m going to tune into CNN and see what he has to say?’”

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    #Trump #world #booked #CNN #hoping #big #audience #theyre #thick
    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

  • DeSantis skipped talking about his 6-week abortion ban to an anti-abortion audience

    DeSantis skipped talking about his 6-week abortion ban to an anti-abortion audience

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    Abortion was given only a passing reference, underscoring how uncomfortable the topic makes leading Republicans, even as Republican-dominated legislatures aggressively pursue more restrictive laws. The night before, DeSantis marked the bill signing with an 11 p.m. tweet, not a press event that often accompanies a signature policy achievement.

    During DeSantis’ 20-minute speech at the evangelical university he only had this to say about abortion: “We have elevated the importance of family and promoted the culture of life.”

    The politics surrounding abortion have become a major issue recently after a federal judge in Texas suspended the FDA’s approval of the abortion drug mifepristone. A federal appeals court ruled this week that it can remain on the market but with availability restricted.

    As a further sign of the difficult spot Republicans are in, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who announced a presidential exploratory committee on Wednesday, avoided questions on whether he’d support a federal abortion ban but later clarified that he’d support some sort of federal restriction and would sign a 20-week abortion ban if he were president.

    Polling shows that many Americans don’t support strict abortion bans, including 62 percent who oppose outlawing abortion when a fetal heartbeat is detected — usually around six weeks of pregnancy.

    Florida’s GOP-controlled Legislature on Thursday passed a six-week ban on abortion that provides exceptions for victims of rape and incest up to 15 weeks if they can show some proof such as a police report. But almost 10 Florida Republican lawmakers rejected the ban, many of them representing Democratic areas like Miami or Tallahassee.

    DeSantis’ signing of the bill late Thursday night also marked a stark difference from 2022, when he also approved Florida’s 15-week ban on abortion. DeSantis approved the 2022 law during a public event at a church with dozens of people and a large video screen showing the message “Florida is Pro Life.”

    On Friday at Liberty University during DeSantis’ event, the most explicit mention of Florida’s six-week ban came from campus pastor Jonathan Falwell, who praised the governor while introducing him to the audience.

    “Last night, after the legislature there in Florida passed the bill, [DeSantis] signed the heartbeat Protection Act,” Falwell said to cheers. “And as he signed that into the law at a state of Florida, it will protect all unborn babies because he recognizes that life is a gift.”

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    #DeSantis #skipped #talking #6week #abortion #ban #antiabortion #audience
    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

  • Harris finds footing and a jubilant audience, halfway around the world from Washington

    Harris finds footing and a jubilant audience, halfway around the world from Washington

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    harris ghana 82459

    Administration officials have often remarked how foreign trips can provide Harris room to shine that, they feel, the D.C. chattering class misses when talking about and covering her. Harris earned rave reviews for her speech last month at the Munich Security Conference, where she proclaimed Russia had committed crimes against humanity. And her trip to Africa once more demonstrated the general relief she and her staff usually feel the further away they get from the political sniping that trails her at home.

    Harris arrived Sunday in Ghana, the first of a three-nation, one-week trip across the continent, to talk about economic security and U.S.-Africa unity. She landed to the sound of drums and dancers wrapped in traditional Kente cloth and headbands.

    At subsequent stops, she has been notably less guarded, relaxed and seemingly lighter on her feet. It was noticed by the locals, too.

    “I’m so proud and so happy to see her in Africa. It was emotional that she made it here and that Ghana is her first African country. She clearly loves Africa and she loves Ghana,” said a young woman named LaToya, who did not want to give her last name out of fear because of anti-LGBTQ sentiments in the country. She had watched Harris’ speech at Black Star Square, a Ghanaian monument representing the nation’s freedom from colonialism. “Based on her smiles, she clearly enjoyed it here. When you come to a place like this, you can be yourself.”

    The official goals of Harris’ trip were to enhance relations on the continent and ensure that China did not get a stronger foothold in the economies there. A senior aide said the vice president, as the first Black woman to occupy that post, was “uniquely positioned to highlight the culture and opportunities, most especially the dynamism of African youth.”

    But unlike the diplomatic meetings and security conferences that marked her past travel abroad, the trip to Ghana also featured more direct interactions with the populace. The vice president made several stops during her visit to highlight the nation’s arts, including a woman-owned gallery and a community recording studio.

    Ghanaian singer Amaarae met with Harris at Vibrate Space, an artists’ collective. She said the vice president pledged her team would follow up with her and keep using art and culture to demonstrate Ghana as a worthy investment.

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    #Harris #finds #footing #jubilant #audience #halfway #world #Washington
    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )