Thread by @emptywheel

Here's something I want to know abt CNN Trump bonanza: Who decided @kaitlancollins would do it? Did Trump demand it? Or did CNN think the optics of Trump bullying their beautiful lead female anchor for an hour would be good for the brand?

Also, is it true that @ChrisLichtCNN did prep with Collins, rather than actual news producers?

If so, the willful optics of this--setting Trump up to deliver a very gendered bullying as surrogate for "news"--is all the more troubling.

This is not a dig on Collins. @jaketapper would have done no better at disrupting Trump's gaslighting.

But the optics would have been different, bc it would not have been a symbolic domination of a beautiful woman in lieu of news or truth.

One problem with coverage of Trump is many reporters covering him are so giddy for the access they don't realize that Trump will NEVER be about truth -- you will only ever be a participant in his reality show -- but is instead about staging power relations.

And the power relation of being ABOVE truth, of being able to bully journalists, has always been utterly central to Trump's brand. Making that gendered, as Licht chose to do, is all the more valuable for Trump bc there's something sexualized about his power.