{"id":21347,"date":"2026-07-25T17:11:59","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T17:11:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=21347"},"modified":"2026-07-25T17:11:59","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T17:11:59","slug":"cnn-analyst-gives-trump-rare-credit-before-taking-sharp-shot-at-dinner-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=21347","title":{"rendered":"CNN analyst gives Trump rare credit before taking sharp shot at dinner speech"},"content":{"rendered":"


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CNN host gives Trump rare credit for one move at WHCA Dinner<\/h4>\n

President Donald Trump received praise from CNN host Van Jones after staying for the WHCA Dinner awards ceremony, with Jones saying the president deserved credit for remaining in the room despite facing journalists who are critical of him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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NEW<\/span>You can now listen to Fox News articles!\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

CNN commentator Van Jones offered words of unlikely praise to President Donald Trump amid his attendance at the rescheduled White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) Dinner.<\/p>\n

During the network\u2019s coverage of the event, anchor John Berman noted to viewers that the journalists\u2019 awards would be handed out before Trump took to the podium to deliver his speech \u2014 a schedule change that was not in effect on April 25 when the dinner was originally planned.<\/p>\n

“The president was going to speak first, then the awards. So he could have left, in theory, if he wanted to,” Berman said before tossing to Jones. “This time, he\u2019s going to have to sit through and watch awards being given to reporters who report on him, maybe in ways he doesn\u2019t like. One wonders how he might feel about that.”<\/p>\n

JOURNALISTS DEMAND WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS’ ASSOCIATION ‘SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER’ IN NEW DINNER WITH TRUMP<\/strong><\/p>\n

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President Donald Trump speaks during the rescheduled White House Correspondents Dinner in the Presidential Ballroom at the Waldorf Astoria on July 24, 2026, in Washington, D.C.<\/span> (Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Jones replied by pointing out that Trump should receive recognition for remaining to watch journalists who often provide coverage that disagrees with his administration.<\/p>\n

“You really do have to give President Trump credit tonight,” Jones said. “I mean, we were saying he was going to basically do his thing and run away.”<\/p>\n

“He\u2019s not running away,” Jones added. “He\u2019s going to be there. And maybe someone will have the courage to speak up (against him). Maybe they won\u2019t. But he\u2019s putting himself in harm\u2019s way in that regard.”<\/p>\n

TRUMP SPARES NO ONE AT WHCA DINNER, TAKING AIM AT DEMS, PRESS AND HIS OWN CABINET<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Van Jones attends the 85th Annual Peabody Awards at the Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills, Calif., on June 1, 2025.<\/span> (Variety via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.<\/p>\n

The dinner was rescheduled from its April 25 date after a gunman stormed the security perimeter and fired a shot in an attempt to assassinate the president.<\/p>\n

Following Trump\u2019s remarks at the event, in which he poked fun at members of the press while candidly addressing his relationship with the media, Jones offered a harsh rebuke to the president\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n

HERE’S WHAT YOU MISSED FROM TRUMP’S FIRST WHCA DINNER AS PRESIDENT: 5 TAKEAWAYS FROM HIS NIGHT WITH THE PRESS<\/strong><\/p>\n

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President Donald Trump speaks during the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Dinner in the Presidential Ballroom at the Waldorf Astoria on July 24, 2026, in Washington, D.C.<\/span> (Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

“I think the worst thing you can say is that it just wasn\u2019t funny at all,” Jones said. “It just wasn\u2019t funny. It was mean and small. But you can be mean and small and funny. This was mean and small and not funny.”<\/p>\n

Jones went on to criticize Trump\u2019s topic choice at the annual gala, and instead suggested the president should have touched upon political issues while addressing attendees.<\/p>\n

“And he didn\u2019t talk about any American, besides himself and his enemies,” Jones continued. “There are people at home who can\u2019t figure out how to pay for gas. There are people at home who worry about their nephew who\u2019s serving overseas.<\/p>\n

WATCH: Trump makes playful jab at Peter Doocy during WHCA Dinner<\/strong><\/p>\n

“There\u2019s people at home who have real problems, who would love to see somebody reflect their reality and maybe make fun of some of their enemies, some of their problems. He missed the entire opportunity to talk to those people.”<\/p>\n

Last week, the CNN correspondent and longtime progressive Democrat appeared to distance himself from far-left activists gaining traction within his own party.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Yes, we want our Democratic Party to be a big tent. But we don\u2019t need ‘party poopers.\u2019 So STOP pooping in the punch bowl \u2014 and telling us the turds are ice cubes,” Jones said on X.<\/p>\n

In the same post, Jones condemned the platform held by Democratic Socialist of America (DSA) activists, and warned that their positions on Hamas, prisons and immigration risk further dividing the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n

“Supporting Hamas is not progressive. ‘No police, no prisons, no borders’ is not progressive. Celebrating the murder of Israeli civilians is not progressive. These ideas are REGRESSIVE,” Jones said.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/strong><\/p>\n

He went on to argue the difference between both “progressive” and “regressive” platforms within the party.<\/p>\n

“On the other hand, if everybody could see a doctor when they got sick, get a good, free education and breathe clean air \u2014 would that represent progress? Yes. Those are PROGRESSIVE ideas,” Jones added. “They are NOT the same thing. And the difference matters.”<\/p>\n

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Julia Bonavita is a media and culture writer for Fox News Digital, and a Fox Flight Team drone pilot. You can follow her at @juliabonavita13 on all platforms and send story tips to julia.bonavita@fox.com.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CNN host gives Trump rare credit for one move at WHCA Dinner President Donald Trump…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}