A frustrated CNN anchor, Jim Acosta, abruptly cut away from former President Donald Trump’s campaign event on Tuesday, expressing his dissatisfaction with what he described as a stream of blatant falsehoods and incoherent rambling. The live broadcast was covering a Latino roundtable event at Trump National Doral in Miami when Acosta interrupted the feed to share his candid thoughts on the former president’s speech.
“That is former president Donald Trump holding what is being described as a Latino roundtable in Miami,” Acosta said during the broadcast. “But as you just heard, it’s more of a rambling, incoherent stream of consciousness.”
In the roughly 75 seconds of Trump’s speech that aired before Acosta cut away, the former president touched on an array of unrelated topics. He commented on the number of days left before the election, took a jab at Vice President Kamala Harris by calling her “lazy as hell,” and discussed whether Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is more liberal than Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), whom he referred to using the derogatory nickname “Pocahontas.” Trump then launched into a critique of the media, accusing journalists of avoiding an interview with Harris’ father, whom he labeled a “Marxist professor.” He also mentioned the state of the modern press and made a passing reference to the Atlanta Constitution newspaper.
“Who the hell takes off?” Trump began, referring to Harris. “We have 14 days left. And she’ll take a couple of more days off too. You know why? She’s lazy as hell, and she’s got that reputation. She’s a radical left lunatic. She’s further left than Bernie Sanders or Pocahontas. Now, Pocahontas, because I think—is Pocahontas further left than Bernie? Just about, right? It’s close. Who the hell cares, right? Rick says, ‘Eh, I don’t know.’ But they’re out there. But she’s the furthest left. We can’t have a person like her in office. She’s a Marxist. Her father’s a Marxist professor, by the way. The fake news, look at all of them—where’s the father? We should interview him because I’d find it interesting to see what he has to say. I don’t know, they seem to have a problem with that, but it would be nice to interview the father. He’s a Marxist professor, and I think that’s okay. That’s good. But I think it’s appropriate that the father be interviewed by the fake news. They don’t want to interview him, and I wonder why. If we had a real press in this country, this wouldn’t even be a race. And I’m not sure it is a race anyway. They just came out with the Atlanta Constitution—”
At that point, Acosta cut away from the speech, clearly frustrated by the barrage of disconnected statements. Following the cut, Acosta, along with CNN’s fact-checker Daniel Dale, provided viewers with a detailed fact check of Trump’s commentary, aiming to set the record straight on several of the former president’s claims.
“She’s not a Marxist. Obviously, she’s not lazy as hell,” Acosta said. “Kamala Harris has had a distinguished career as a district attorney in San Francisco, the attorney general of California, a U.S. senator, and now vice president. You don’t reach those levels of public service by being lazy.”
Daniel Dale also addressed Trump’s claim that Harris was taking time off from the campaign trail, pointing out that while she wasn’t holding rallies on that particular day, she was still active with two high-profile interviews. “She’s not on vacation or lounging at the beach,” Dale clarified.
Dale went on to highlight how Trump’s speeches have consistently presented a challenge for fact-checkers, citing the sheer volume of falsehoods and misleading statements that the former president has continued to propagate. “We’re seeing a deluge of misinformation on topics ranging from FEMA and immigration to the legitimacy of American elections,” Dale said. “We’re extremely busy fact-checking Mr. Trump right now, to a far greater extent than we are with Vice President Harris.”
Acosta and Dale’s comments underscored the broader frustration among journalists and fact-checkers who have found themselves repeatedly debunking Trump’s frequent, often baseless, claims. The segment wrapped up with Acosta emphasizing the importance of fact-checking in today’s political landscape, particularly as misinformation continues to shape public perception leading up to the election.
The moment was just another example of how Trump’s speeches, often littered with personal attacks, conspiracy theories, and questionable facts, have led to growing tensions between the former president and major news networks like CNN. Acosta’s decision to cut away from the event reflected a broader media strategy to hold Trump accountable for spreading misinformation, a tactic that has become increasingly common in the post-Trump presidency era.
