Ever since Donald Trump left office in January 2021, he has stayed in a cocoon of friendly right-wing media and his rally crowds of devoted supporters.
While he occasionally has sparred with journalists riding on his private airplane, his television and radio appearances have been limited to the likes of Fox News and more politically extreme outlets.
On Wednesday, he ventured outside that bubble for a 90-minute townhall event on CNN, a cable news outlet he has repeatedly called fake news. It was an at-times chaotic evening that would be very familiar to anyone who followed Mr Trump as he scorched a path to the White House in 2016.
Here are six takeaways from the evening.
A debt ceiling default ultimatum
Republicans and Democrats in Washington are in the middle of tense negotiations over raising the legal debt limit in order to avoid a default on the national debt.
On Wednesday night, however, Mr Trump said that going over the debt cliff for the first time in US history may be a necessary step if Republicans don’t get the broad spending cuts they desire.
“If they don’t give you massive cuts, you’re going to have to default,” he said.
The view matches those of some conservative Republicans in Congress who believe the US is already on a course that will end in default and disaster if budget changes aren’t made.
“You’re going to default eventually anyway,” he said, “but it’s going to be much messier.”
That message will resonate with some Republicans and will certainly strengthen the spines of Republican hard-liners. The chances of an actual default next month – which economists warn would have catastrophic consequences for the US and the world – may have just ticked up.
Not picking a side in Ukraine
Over the course of the past few months, Mr Trump has said that Russia would have never invaded Ukraine if he were president and if he is returned to office he will negotiate a settlement in Ukraine within 24 hours.
He repeated those lines on Wednesday. When pressed, however, the former president repeatedly refused to say who he would like to prevail in the Ukraine conflict.
“I don’t think of winning or losing, I think in terms of getting it settled,” he said. “I want everybody to stop dying.”
He added that he thought Russian President Vladimir Putin made a mistake in invading Ukraine but, when asked, would not label him a war criminal.
Surveys show that Republicans are growing increasingly sour on US support for Ukraine’s war effort. The town hall crowd gave repeated and energetic applause for Mr Trump’s lines on Ukraine.
While some Republican officeholders and the Biden administration may pledge continued support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, it’s increasingly clear a second Trump presidency would mark a decided shift in US policy.
Muddy waters on abortion
For conservative evangelical voters, one of Mr Trump’s most notable achievements as president was appointing Supreme Court justices who ultimately reversed Roe v Wade abortion protections.
On Wednesday night, Mr Trump took credit for that – but he repeatedly dodged when asked about what the end of the constitutional right to abortion could mean.
Would he support a federal abortion ban? Does he think abortion should be restricted after six weeks of pregnancy, as some Republican states have done? Or more? Or less?
As many times as CNN host Kaitlan Collins pressed, Mr Trump wouldn’t give a firm answer, only saying as president he would consider the issue and do “what’s right for everybody”.
When it comes to abortion, however, there’s no answer that will make everybody in American happy.
After Republicans underperformed in the congressional midterm elections last year, Mr Trump said that he thought the abortion issue, and the conservative hard-line positions on it, cost the party votes.
On Wednesday night, he seemed determined to keep his answers on the issue as vague as possible.
January 6 pardons
During a recent campaign rally in Texas, Mr Trump introduced a video of prisoners awaiting trial for the 6 January, 2021, attack on the US Capitol singing the US national anthem. It was interspersed with footage of the Capitol attack and Mr Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
On Wednesday night, the former president leaned further into sympathising with those who participated in the attack.
He pledged to pardon “many” of those convicted of 6 January offences. He again lionised Ashli Babbitt, who was killed trying to break onto a room near the House of Representatives chamber. He called the Capitol Hill security officer who shot her a “thug”.
More broadly, he defended his actions that day, producing several sheets of paper with statements and tweets which he said showed he urged protestors to be peaceful.
For as long as Mr Trump seeks public office, questions about the Capitol riots – and his role in it – will follow him.
Many Republicans, including officeholders who were at the Capitol that day, consider it a dark moment in American history. For them, Mr Trump’s attempts to recharacterise that day may strike a sour note.
A man who can’t let 2020 go
The former president’s first question from Ms Collins was an open-ended one about why Americans should return him to the White House. Instead of answering with a criticism of Democratic President Joe Biden or outlining his campaign platform, he quickly launched into an attack on the 2020 election.
He rehashed debunked claims of ballot-box stuffing and voter fraud, and called it a “rigged election”. When Ms Collins pushed back, he said she’s smart enough to know better and accused her of having an agenda.
The extended exchange once again demonstrated that the central motivating factor behind Mr Trump’s 2024 presidential bid continues to be relitigating his 2020 defeat. It’s the one thing he can’t let go.
While that may be music to the ears of Mr Trump’s loyal base, general-election voters – and even some Republican primary voters – may be hoping to move on.
The party in his corner
While Ms Collins pressed the former president for answers – at one point so rattling him that he called her a “very nasty person”- the crowd of New Hampshire Republicans and independents at the town hall were clearly in his corner.
They gave him a standing ovation as he entered. They laughed at his jokes about E Jean Carroll as he repeatedly denied having any contact with the woman who on Tuesday won a $5m defamation and sexual abuse civil lawsuit against him.
They nodded in agreement as he called the 2020 election fraudulent.
They were a living, breathing reflection of the hold Mr Trump continues to have over the Republican Party – and the obstacles Mr Trump’s opponents will have in trying to wrest the 2024 Republican nomination from his grip.
“I like you guys,” the former president told the crowd at the end of the forum.
The feeling was mutual.
Source – BBC News
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