![CNN guest and Republican strategist Lee Carter called out CNN for deceptively portraying former President Donald Trump's comments from a Fox News town hall. [Screenshot CNN]](https://images.dailycaller.com/image/width=960,height=411,fit=cover,f=auto/https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Screenshot-2023-12-06-at-11.12.22-AM-e1701879186300.png "CNN guest and Republican strategist Lee Carter called out CNN for deceptively portraying former President Donald Trump's comments from a Fox News town hall. [Screenshot CNN]")
CNN guest and Republican strategist Lee Carter called out CNN for deceptively portraying former President Donald Trump’s comments from a Fox News town hall.
During a Tuesday night Town Hall with Sean Hannity, Trump said he would be a “dictator” only on “day one,” clearly mocking those who claim his policies of a closed border and energy independence is a step too far.
WATCH THE MOMENT:
Hannity asked Trump to promise he would never use his power for retribution.
“Except for day one,” Trump said. “I want to close the border and I want to drill, drill, drill…We’re closing the border and we’re drilling, after that I’m not a dictator.”
CNN’s Poppy Harlow and Alayna Treene discussed the clip moments before Carter joined, with neither providing any context to the rest of Trump’s clip.
“Donald Trump, I think, made clear on his remarks about ‘I’d only be a dictator on day one,’ exactly what President Biden is talking about in terms of preserving democracy,” Harlow said.
“Well, to be fair that soundbite, out of context is terrifying, but when you hear what he was trying to say overall, he was kind of, sort of, like, as some communicators do, lean into criticism and say, ‘I’ll only be a dictator in as much as I’m going to close the borders and I’m going to start drilling for oil again, after that, no, I promise you I’m not going to do anything’–” Carter said.
WATCH ANOTHER MOMENT WHEN CNN GETS CALLED OUT FOR EDITING CLIP:
“Are you saying people shouldn’t believe him?” Harlow asked. “Look at the policies he’s laid out.” (RELATED: ‘Cannot Let Him Win’: Biden Says He’s ‘Not Sure’ He’d ‘Be Running’ If It Wasn’t For Trump)
“Well what I’m saying is I don’t think that what he meant to say was ‘I’m really going to be a dictator in that moment.’ That’s not what he was saying, he was saying ‘I’m going to be a dictator on day one under these two terms.’ And I think the American people, and certainly his supporters, aren’t going to hear him as saying ‘I was going to be a dictator.’ This is very much like in 2016, everybody said he’s an outsider, he’s got no experience, and he’s like ‘Yeah, I’m an outsider with no experience I’m gonna blow things up in D.C.’ He’s got that kind of a way about him–”
“And he did,” Harlow cut in.
“He did,” Carter said. “And that’s what people like about him by the way.”
CNN’s senior legal analyst Elie Honig jumped in to disagree with Carter, arguing Trump has made it clear he wants to be a dictator both with things he has said and things he has implied.