A collection of conservative commentators promptly came to Donald Trump’s defense after CNN anchor Dana Bash corrected the president’s latest criticism of the network—that it “hates” the United States.
CNN has long been a central target of Trump’s attacks on the press. He has routinely called it—and the press at large—the “enemy of the people” for reporting he deems unflattering. He showed his animosity once again Monday during an Oval Office meeting with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, claiming the network “hates our country.”
Trump also berated CNN’s Kaitlan Collins for merely asking why his administration is refusing to bring home a Maryland man it mistakenly deported to El Salvador a month ago. The president demanded that Collins praise him instead.
Trump on CNN: “I think they hate our country.”That’s what dictators do — they portray any media outlet they don’t control and that doesn’t praise their corrupt regimes 24/7 as the enemy of the state.pic.twitter.com/7BHPVWJf61
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) April 14, 2025
Bash responded moments later.
“I just want to say, for the record, since we heard President Trump say in the Oval Office that CNN hates our country—CNN does not hate our country,” she said on Inside Politics. “That should go without saying. I’ve been here for 32 years, and I see a rhetorical device in him saying such a thing.”
The MAGAsphere dutifully jumped into action.
Former Turning Point USA Chief Creative Officer Benny Johnson wrote in response to a clip of Bash: “Just another lie from the Communist News Network.”
Right-wing YouTuber DeVory Darkins listed brief examples of what he believed disproved Bash’s correction: “Russia hoax, J6, Hunter Biden laptop, Joe Biden’s mental decline, Wuhan COVID lab leak, and so many more.”
“Remember either pushing those narratives or burying the others? CNN is the mouthpiece for the Democratic Party and the Washington D.C. deep state,” he added.
Other commentators similarly weighed in. Additionally, the X account for the conservative website Townhall.com gave its own one-word “fact check” of Bash, and nothing else.
In 2022, Trump acted upon his perceived grievances with CNN in court. Yet his $475 million defamation lawsuit was tossed the following year by a judge he had nominated.
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