Kaitlan Collins Puts Don Jr. In His Place In Brutal Interview

Good journalists are never afraid to ask the tough questions — even if they receive a hostile response. After the 2024 vice presidential debate, CNN news anchor Kaitlin Collins was on hand to speak to Donald Trump Jr. about Donald Trump Sr.'s VP pick, JD Vance. Collins shared the interview on X, formerly Twitter, and it got off to a reasonable start, but Don Jr. quickly began to bristle when Collins changed the subject to Donald Sr.'s performance in the presidential debate. As the interview continued, Don Jr. made a surprising claim: "The media has radicalized the people that are trying to kill my father. I've had to deal with that twice now, in the last two months."

Collins wasn't willing to take Don Jr.'s unfounded comments lying down and fired back in defense of the media: "Everyone wants your dad to be safe. No one wants the threats against his life to happen. But you can't blame the media for those threats. There's been no evidence." As always, Don Jr. had an immediate answer for Collins, retorting: "When someone calls — and allows people to have a platform to call someone literally Hitler every day for nine years, it creates it, whether you want to believe it or not. That's a fact." 

Don Jr. may have expected this bold statement to put an end to the argument, but Collins subtly had the last word with a brutal reminder: "But as you know, JD Vance once likened your dad to Hitler as well. He questioned if he was America's Hitler." If Collins seemed thoroughly prepared to put Don Jr. in his place, it may be because she's already had plenty of experience. In 2023, Collins set Donald Sr. straight on unsubstantiated voter fraud claims, and the conversation was very similar to her post-debate duel with the oldest Trump son.  

Presidential town halls are an excellent way for candidates to speak directly to voters, and CNN's 2023 town Hall in New Hampshire featured a memorable Donald Trump and Kaitlan Collins face-off. Similar to Donald Trump Jr.'s post-debate accusations, Donald Sr.'s dramatic claims about 2020 election voter fraud were very provocative. According to a CNN transcript of the town hall, the former president said: "That was a rigged election, and it's a shame that we had to go through it. It's very bad for our country. All over the world, they looked at it, and they saw exactly what everyone else saw." 

He continued by referencing the FBI, Twitter, and True the Vote, but Collins was quick to issue a rebuttal, reminding him of the facts: "Mr. President, back to what you just said there, though, it was not a rigged election. It was not a stolen election. You and your supporters lost more than 60 court cases on the election." Undeterred, Donald Sr. began discussing fake ballots, but Collins once again shut him down: "But what you just said there, Republican officials debunked those claims about fraudulent ballots." Just as she did in her interview with Don Jr., Collins demonstrated impressive composure, even in the face of these incendiary claims. She clearly isn't afraid to put the Trump family in their place when needed.