CNN chief domestic correspondent Jim Acosta said on Sunday the mainstream press is experiencing a “post-Trump stress disorder” now that Donald Trump no longer occupies the Oval Office.
The video: Acosta appeared on CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” where he and host Brian Stelter commiserated over life after Trump.
- “I think I think we’re all dealing with post Trump stress disorder,” Acosta said in response to Stelter asking about whether coverage had changed since Trump left office.
- “But in terms of stacking shows and what comes first, what comes second, Brian, you and I both know this all too well,” Acosta said later on in the segment. “We did cover the news before Donald Trump came along and we did it pretty well.”
- According to Acosta, “there’s going to be plenty of stuff in the news, and it doesn’t have to have Donald Trump in the headlines for us to continue to exist.”
Context: Media observers have remarked on the purportedly symbiotic relationship between Trump and CNN, whose negative coverage of the former president garnered skyrocketing ratings and earned the ire of conservatives.
- Even as personalities such as Acosta engaged in public feuds with Trump, liberals slammed the network for boosting Trump’s public profile and blamed CNN for helping get Trump elected in 2016.
- CNN’s ratings have slumped by 16% in the first three months of the year.
- Outgoing CNN president Jeff Zucker confessed in 2018 that the network’s audience “goes away” when it stops covering Trump.
