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Trump hasn’t changed

May 11, 2023
Gabrielle Debinski
Former Republican President Donald Trump.
Former Republican President Donald Trump.
Reuters

In a town hall event hosted by CNN on Wednesday night, Donald Trump made it abundantly clear that he hasn’t changed one bit. The former president played many of his classic hits.

He called CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins “a nasty woman,” doubled down on erroneous claims that the 2020 election was stolen, and said that the Jan. 6 riot was carried out by so-called American patriots.

He dismissed a string of ongoing legal woes – including this week’s finding by a Manhattan jury that he was liable for sexual abuse and defamation of E. Jean Carroll, a former magazine columnist.

He also doubled down on Republicans playing hardball with the debt ceiling, saying that if the Biden administration doesn't make spending cuts then a government default is inevitable.

Crucially, after repeated probing, Trump wouldn’t say whether he wanted Ukraine to win the war. Former NJ Governor Chris Christie, another likely GOP hopeful in 2024 who this week told GZERO Media that he will continue to support Ukraine, panned Trump for his response, calling him “Putin’s puppet.”

But did we really learn anything new? Trump is Trump, and few people expected him to have changed his stripes. The reception he received from the New Hampshire-based audience, including when he said that he’d pardon Jan. 6 rioters, however, shows that the GOP base is still firmly on his side.

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