It wasn’t all hugs, rose petals, and MAGA rallies in India for President Donald Trump and his entourage. After the Namaste Trump event in Ahmedabad, India, the reality of an annoying press corps reemerged. Circling the events as a persistent and pesky fly, waiting to dive deep into the ointment, was none other than the supreme buzz-killer of drive-by media personalities, CNN’s Jim Acosta.
The swatting of Acosta came during a calm exchange between the president and White House correspondents in New Delhi, when Acosta asked if Trump would reject any foreign interference in the 2020 election.
Trump held his temper and, amazingly, did not pull his can of RAID. Rather, he issued a scolding:
“First of all, I want no help from any country. And I haven’t been given help from any country, and if you see what CNN, your wonderful network, said, I guess they apologized in a way for — didn’t they apologize for the fact that they said certain things that weren’t true? Tell me, what was their apology yesterday? What did they say?”
Trump was referring, of course, to the rancid bite of crow so many news outlets had to chew after having to rework and reword earlier reports that Russia tried to interfere with the upcoming election. Acosta did not answer the president’s question. Instead, he charged full steam ahead, seemingly unaware of how damn irritating he is to others: “Mr. President, I think our record on delivering the truth is a lot better than yours sometimes.”
The Curse of Trump
Jim Acosta is so ill-received by the Trump White House that in late 2018 his hall-pass and credentials were pulled. Only after judicial intervention was the annoying Acosta given access to the president and the press room. Trump effectively neutered the reputation of many media outlets with his crowd-pleasing term “fake news,” but none has fallen quite as deeply into the trap as CNN. In its attempts to be rid of public enemy number one, the network has simply continued to die a slow a painful death from self-inflicted wounds.
A sampling of egregious reporting by CNN – intended or accidental – follows:
- Jim Acosta lamented that Trump did not visit Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) after the mass shooting attack on Republicans committed by a deranged leftist.
- CNN quietly retracted a story that Anthony Scaramucci was under investigation after it was revealed to be fake news.
- White House Reporter Jeremy Diamond falsely accused Trump of being the first president since George H.W. Bush to not take questions at a press conference in China.
- White House reporter Manu Raju reported that Donald Trump Jr. knew in advance about the Wikileaks release of John Podesta’s emails. Raju claimed to have two sources yet did not reveal either of his seemingly imaginary friends after having to recant.
- Jake Tapper reported that former FBI director James Comey would testify that he never told Trump he was under investigation. Oops. Comey testified, Tapper’s article was corrected, and a disclaimer was added, letting CNN off the hook. Again.
Liberty Nation’s Kelli Ballard took a swipe at other incidents in her article, “CNN Pushing More Fake News”:
“It’s a fair assumption to say CNN is no longer ‘The Most Trusted Name in News.’ Why is it, then, that reporters and other CNN representatives are allowed to continue on their rants and push fake news? CNN’s supervising producer, John Bonifield admitted that the whole ‘Russia influenced the presidential elections’ story didn’t have any real proof to back it up, but it was all about the ratings and that their ratings ‘are incredible right now.’ Incredibly low.”
(Photo by Ronen Tivony/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
They still let Jim Acosta out of his terrarium to buzz about and irritate the president – who hasn’t allowed CNN a one-on-one interview since the 2016 election. Once a reputable news source, CNN has fallen to ratings lower than Nickelodeon and ESPN.
The game of politics is out of balance – a direct result of electing a man that, for all appearances, cannot be bought by either party. A man who has thousands of people donning red MAGA hats in rock concert venues and chanting “CNN sucks.”
And that’s a fly in the American ointment that cannot be salvaged. And President Trump made it well-known that his attitude will not be changing any time soon, advising Acosta, “Let me tell you about your record – your record is so bad, you ought to be ashamed of yourself.” There was no Namaste for Acosta or CNN in New Delhi.
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