Years after he began attacking CNN as “fake news,” Donald Trump has finally found someone on that network he does not want to insult — and in fact, he’s promoting his work.
The president took to Truth Social on Thursday to share a clip of CNN data guru Harry Enten discussing the effect of Trump’s endorsement of South Carolina Sen. Darline Graham, who last week announced that she’d run in the special election to fill out the term of her late brother, Lindsey Graham.
Enten cited data from the prediction market Kalshi — which also sponsors his segments — showing Graham, who had never held any political office until she was appointed as an interim replacement for her brother, with 80 percent odds of winning the primary after Trump announced he was endorsing her.
He noted that the same data showed she had a 14 percent chance of winning prior to the endorsement and credited Trump for the change.
“There's a reason why this 14 percent became 80 percent and that is because when it comes to Senate primaries, Donald Trump's record is magnificent,” he said.
Enten explained how Trump’s endorsement, since 2022, has carried his preferred candidates to victory in 95 percent of Senate races for an open Senate seat.
He added that Trump has been even more successful in Senate races this year, with a perfect record of endorsing winners in primaries.
“There has never been somebody I have seen as powerful in terms of their ability to move the electorate in primaries than the current president of the United States, Donald John Trump,” he said.
The president’s tacit praise of Enter’s analysis marks a significant divergence from his normal commentary about the nearly 50-year-old cable channel.
He has feuded with the network’s White House correspondents since 2017, when he shouted down then-chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta at a press conference just days before he was sworn in for his first term, pointedly telling the journalist: “You are fake news.”
More recently, he has routinely been vitriolic towards the network’s current top White House correspondent, Kaitlan Collins, even going so far as to remark on her appearance and accuse her of not smiling sufficiently during interactions with her in the Oval Office.
The president and his aides are hoping to force the network to take a more sycophantic position towards the current administration with a change in ownership, as Trump ally David Ellison is currently in the process of purchasing the network’s parent company, Warner Brothers Discovery.
