Former President Trump’s return to CNN on Wednesday evening met intense scrutiny from leftist media, commentators, and politicians.

CNN hosted a town hall with the former Republican president for the first time on its platform since the 2016 presidential election, drawing over 3.3 million viewers, hosted by Kaitlan Collins.

Amid the duration of the town hall, Trump is said to have steamrolled Collins after contentious engagements with her over the January 6 Capitol riots, the 2020 election, and the recent verdict against him concerning E. Jean Carroll’s accusations.

Collins pushed Trump to answer why he did not hand over classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. Trump then replied, saying “You’re a nasty person! I’ll tell ya” followed by a euthanasic reaction from the audience. 

CNN has since been blasted by liberals for even permitting Trump to appear on the network. CEO Chris Licht defended the decision Thursday morning, but not before calls to fire him were echoed across progressive media.

What followed was a meltdown.

Rolling Stones slandered CNN as an “f–king disgrace.” CNN reporter Oliver Darcy and several staffers complained that it felt like 2016 all over again. Lincoln Project founder Rick Wilson said that CNN’s town hall was akin to lighting a match to democracy by allowing Trump to speak aloud.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also joined in on attacking CNN, saying they lost control over the town hall by allowing the audience to laugh at the host and cheer on Trump.  

CNN later defend Kaitlan Collins amidst the backlash, saying she “exemplified” what it meant to be a journalist.

Collins abruptly cut the Trump town hall short by twenty minutes at 9:10 PM EST; the originally scheduled timeframe was from 8:00-9:30 PM.

Despite the loss of time, Trump did remain standing and speaking to the audience after Collins exited the stage.