The slow-motion trainwreck that has come to define Trump-accuser E. Jean Carroll’s publicity blitz has been painful to watch, one more example of our corrupt media — as a means to smear Trump — psychologically abusing someone who is obviously unwell and unreliable.

Things finally came to a head on Monday night when Carroll slurred something so outrageous even CNN’s basement-rated Anderson Cooper was speechless.

“I think most people think of rape as being sexy – think of the fantasies,” she said.

Rather than follow up on that insanity, a visibly and audibly rattled Cooper — his voice shaking and stumbling — responded with “Hmm, we’re, uh, gunna take a quick break.”

Untill now, the media’s worst act of exploitation in pursuit of Trump came last year when an obviously unstable and tormented Sam Nunberg (a low-level Trump campaign flunky) was sucked dry by vultures like Jake Tapper and Erin Burnett until his public meltdown made him useless to the anti-Trump cause.

Even after Burnett said she smelled alcohol on his breath, Nunberg was kept on the air for 45 minutes — a violation of journalistic ethics that would have been unthinkable prior to Trump winning the presidency.

The exploitation of Carroll is worse.

To begin with, her nearly 25-year-old accusation against Trump, her claim he raped her (although she now says it wasn’t rape, but a “fight”) at Bergdorf Goodman Department Store in Manhattan, is ludicrous.

Rape?

In a department store?

In Manhattan?

Are you kidding me?

One scream and Trump’s entire life would have been over.

She claims the store was empty at the time and it all went down in a dressing room…

Empty?

After five p.m.?

No employees around?

At Bergdorf’s?

But again, we’re supposed to believe Trump would risk everything: his reputation, his business, his freedom, his marriage (to Marla Maples), to rape a 52-year-old woman in a public place?

I’m sorry, none of this is credible…

Not to sound crude, but Trump owns all kinds of private places where it would be easy to lure a woman.

What’s more, Carroll says she still has the outfit she was wearing during the rape but refuses to offer it up for DNA testing.

If that isn’t ludicrous enough, when she was asked last week if she would press assault charges against Trump, she told MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell that doing so would be “disrespectful to the women who are down on the border who are being raped around the clock down there without any protection.”

“The women have very little protection there,” she added. “It would just be disrespectful.” And then she rambled on about all the rapes all around the world and how her bringing charges against Trump “just doesn’t make sense to me.”

Well, that’s not an answer. It is, though, the most awkward pivot to a left-wing political talking point in the history of cable news.

.@Lawrence: "Would you consider bringing a rape charge against Donald Trump?" E. Jean Carroll, who has accused the president of sexual assault: "No." pic.twitter.com/LVqdigtVDt — MSNBC (@MSNBC) June 22, 2019

If you think that was awkward, watch O’Donnell’s reaction when Carroll says she wishes she had asked to see Trump’s tax returns just prior to the alleged assault.

E. Jean Carroll says she wishes she would have asked @realDonaldTrump for his TAX RETURNS when she allegedly met him at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in the mid 90's . HUH?!? pic.twitter.com/Dt4DrduT6y — Stephanie Hamill (@STEPHMHAMILL) June 22, 2019

And again, I’m sorry, I know we’re not supposed to speak these truths anymore, but Carroll sounds like she’s drunk or high or suffering a stroke. Her words are slurred, her behavior is erratic, she can’t keep her thoughts on track… It is painful to watch but nowhere near as painful as what happened Monday…

Carroll appeared on CNN’s New Day, the least-watched show in all of cable news, and appeared to be even more scattered and confused. Watch as New Day co-hostess Alisyn Camerota attempts to keep Carroll on track, which included putting words in her mouth:

E. Jean Carroll alleges Donald Trump attacked her at a New York luxury department store in the late 1990s. Trump has denied the allegations, saying, “I have no idea who this woman is.” E. Jean Carroll joins Alisyn Camerota to tell her story. (Part 1) https://t.co/40wAqnN0CE pic.twitter.com/3JTkE85WAy — New Day (@NewDay) June 24, 2019

In this interview, though, Carroll backs off her rape allegation.

“I don’t use the word [rape]. I have difficulty with the word. I see it as a fight.”

Camerota then spends an endless amount of time assuring Carroll she was raped and ends her tirade with, “You were legally raped. That’s what it was.”

Carroll just stares at Camerota as if to say, Okay, if you say so.

From there, the interview goes downhill at lightspeed when Carroll makes the laughable claim she’s not using Trump to sell her book and goes on to change her answer about why she won’t press charges: No longer is her refusal to press charges about “disrespecting” migrant rape victims, it is now about the statute of limitations — even though New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio assured Carroll the police will still investigate.

At this point, Camerota, who is pretty much interviewing herself, struggles with a Carroll who can only respond with more dazed confusion.

CAMEROTA: Now, today, what do you want to say to Donald Trump?. CARROLL (stumbling): That terrifies me that you said that. That is — that is — CAMEROTA: At the thought of confronting him? CARROLL: No, I — you know, you just stunned me by saying that. It terrifies me, although I think I could — I think — yes. CAMEROTA: You think that you could confront him now? I mean, what part scares you? CARROLL: Well, will you go with me, Alisyn? Seriously. You know, listen, that is a — that is a terrible situation. Even a question just terrifies me. Look at me, I can hardly talk now that you said that. CAMEROTA: What part? What part terrifies you? CARROLL: Well, it puts — it reveals to me what I’m in the middle of doing, is what it does. That’s — you made it very clear what I’m in the midst of doing and — CAMEROTA: And you thought when you included those 11 pages in the book that it wouldn’t get this amount of attention? Why? CARROLL: He was only one of 21 hideous men, you know. CAMEROTA: But it is the President of the United States. You didn’t know the onslaught that you would be in the middle of right now? I mean, you are talking about the President of the United States and you are accusing him of sexual assault.

Carroll also claims to have received death threats … before quickly backtracking.

“I put my life on the line,” she said.

“Hold on a second. You’ve gotten death threats?” asked an excited Camerota.

“I am not looking at death threats. I — the reason why I appear to be a happy woman is because I’m not reading this stuff. I am staying out of it,” Carroll said, walking her comment back.

“Have you been told you’ve gotten death threats? People who read this for you have told you that you’ve gotten death threats and that makes you feel…?” Camerota pressed.

Carroll responds with a non sequitur about being an archer: “Bah, I’m an archer. I have bows and arrows, you know. Fine — I think there’s just too — never mind, never mind.”

E. Jean Carroll alleges Donald Trump attacked her at a New York luxury department store in the late 1990s. Trump has denied the allegations, saying, “I have no idea who this woman is.” E. Jean Carroll joins Alisyn Camerota to tell her story. (Part 3) https://t.co/bohlTSkrc5 pic.twitter.com/SbymE4NzLs — New Day (@NewDay) June 24, 2019

All this sad and sordid news cycle has done is to prove once again just how fake our fake news media is, how our dreadful national media have violated every journalistic norm and standard in pursuit of their white whale.

Carroll has no evidence (well, she has the outfit but won’t allow it to be checked for evidence), no desire to press charges, her story keeps changing, she slurs, is scattered in her thinking, but because she is attacking Trump, no one in the media care one whit about her credibility or frail state of mind.

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.