President Donald Trump’s new favorite media star works for the unlikeliest of places: CNN.

Trump has long been one of the network’s biggest critics and he even tried banning them from the White House recently (along with Politico and MS NOW) over what he described as “fake news.”

There is one part of CNN that Trump does like though, and that’s chief data analyst Harry Enten.

Trump has been praising the CNN reporters for months and that praise has only increased in the weeks ahead of the midterms. The president has even taken to showing clips of Enten at his rallies.

Donald Trump. Showing CNN clips. At MAGA rallies.

These are indeed strange times.

In the months that Trump has been praising Enten, the reporter has been doing his job, which has meant highlighting Trump’s increasingly poor approval ratings. He recently declared there’s a “five-alarm Trumpster fire” after Trump hit a new low, but even that couldn’t stop Trump’s fandom.

Here are the times Trump has praised Enten and a highlight of Enten’s coverage of Trump during the same period.

Trump Flubs Enten’s Name as He Praises Reporter

All the way back in August 2025, Trump was praising Enten, but he unfortunately flubbed the reporter’s name and called him “Harry Emden” during a clash with CNBC’s Joe Kernen on his approval ratings.

“There was a gentleman on Harry Emden yesterday on CNN, and he went crazy over how well Trump was doing. Now, you know, you don’t put that on because I think CBS is a shade. Actually, CNN is a better shade than NBC. I think NBC is probably the worst of them all. But if you check CNN tomorrow, watch Harry Emden. And you’ll see about the numbers, but that’s okay,” Trump said.

Enten joked later that some of his friends suggested he change his name after Trump’s comments. He said he gives Trump a “fair shake,” but not a “positive spin” in his coverage.

“It could have been far worse,” he said. “I am thinking of going down to the courthouse in New York when I get back to change my name. That was what some of my friends suggested.”

Trump Praises Enten as ‘Honorable’ and a ‘Good Guy’

While speaking to reporters in May, the president was asked about his MAGA following being “divided” and he jumped into praising Enten for highlighting a poll showing his MAGA support remains strong.

He said:

I like Harry Enten, you know. He’s got a lot of energy. I like him.

But he did a poll and he’s a good pro, and he gives the good and the bad, but I think he’s an honorable guy because we got a lot of good.

You know, he predicted I was going to do great with the Muslims in Michigan and win Michigan, and I did. I did good, and I won Michigan by a lot.

He made a lot of good predictions.

But he did a poll two weeks ago that said Trump is, I mean, this is up. You can check. 100 percent popularity with MAGA.

The poll in question is an NBC survey that found Trump’s support among the MAGA base was 100%. Less than a third of respondents identified themselves as MAGA. Overall, he received a 44% approval and 54% disapproval.

That very day Enten was covering Trump’s polling and he declared the president was “falling through the floor.”

The day after Trump’s praise, Enten continued highlighting the president’s increasingly poor numbers.

Trump Tells CNN Not to ‘Fire’ Enten

In a Truth Social post in August, the president praised the “credibility” of Enten, even as he accused CNN of being in a “DEATH SPIRAL.”

He wrote:

CNN is in a DEATH SPIRAL, and so is MSNOW, the new name for MSDNC — Literally, nobody is watching either Network! The best person on CNN is Pollster Harry Enten, because he was willing to show that Donald J. Trump is six times more popular than Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, or any other President — He’s got Credibility (Don’t fire him!). CNN can be turned around with new Leadership and Anchors (MSNOW cannot!), because a Great Brand can never truly be destroyed! President DONALD J. TRUMP

This praise came days after Enten reported that Trump remained popular among the Republican base.

“This is a reality check for you. That is, Donald Trump is still the sun on which the planets of the GOP revolve around. You could see it quite well here,” Enten said.

Enten noted the president’s success rate in endorsing candidates who go on to win races and he also brought out data from Elon University that showed more than 50% of Republicans named Trump as the president they most admired. That number put him ahead of Ronald Reagan (18%) and Abraham Lincoln (8%).

Trump Cherry Picks Enten Clip and Ignores All the Bad News

In a late-night Sept. 28 post on Truth Social, Trump shared a 43-second clip from a more-than-10-minute segment from Enten that cut out all the bad news and only kept the good.

Citing data from KFF and Fox News, Enten reported that Trump’s approval from the 2024 presidential election to then among MAGA Republicans had barely budged, moving from 99% to 98%.

“There’s been no real decline in MAGA support,” Enten said.

The full segment was far less flattering and showed Trump’s downward trend was only continuing.

Enten highlighted the fact that among non-MAGA Republicans, Trump’s support fell sharply from the 2024 election. Trump was favored by the voting group over former Vice President Kamala Harris by 56 points at the time, but that number shifted to just seven in less than two years.

“That is a shift, my dear friends, of 49 points away from the president of the United States among non-MAGA Republicans,” Enten said. “So his support is definitely not just ebbing there, but is absolutely crashing there.”

Trump again shared a short clip from this segment highlighting the Lincoln and Reagan numbers comparison on Oct. 18 on Truth Social. That clip was less than 40 seconds from the full 14-minute segment. CNN’s John Berman joked at the time that the graphic of Trump’s number dwarfing Reagan and Lincoln would likely end up as a printout on his desk.

Trump Literally Thanks CNN as Enten Becomes Part of His Rallies

Trump has been so taken with Enten’s reporting on his steady MAGA support that he’s taken to showing short clips of Enten at his rallies.

During an Oct. 10 rally in Clarksville, Tennessee, Trump rolled the old clip of Enten noting that MAGA support for Trump has remained near 100% since 2024.

“That support is really holding up strong,” Enten said. “It’s really, really strong.”

Again, the full segment was less flattering with Enten noting Trump was “crashing” in support among anyone who doesn’t identify as MAGA.

“Thank you, CNN!” Trump said after airing the clip.

Trump again pulled out the Enten clip at a Kalispell, Montana rally less than a week later. The president showed only the small portions from the segment that were positive.

“That’s an honor. He’s very good. He may not have a job tomorrow, but these are minor details. No, he’s very good,” Trump told the crowd about Enten.

Enten Inspires Trump to Actually Compliment CNN

Trump’s Enten fandom has remained strong, so strong in fact that CNN’s biggest critic actually had some positive things to say about the same network he tried banning from the White House.

“They did do some nice polls on me, I must say. If CNN keeps doing those polls, I’ll like them more and more,” Trump told reporters outside the White House Friday, following the airing of Enten clips at rallies.

Trump’s compliments followed Enten declaring there’s a “five alarm Trumpster fire” after a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed the president with a low 31% approval rating.

“Trump’s approval rating hits all time low,” Enten reported just days before Trump’s CNN remarks. “This is the Reuters-Ipsos poll. You know, at the beginning of his term, he was plus six. He was two thumbs up. And now we’re talking -35 points, the worst he has ever been in the Reuters-Ipsos poll.”

The post Here Are All the Times Trump Has Praised His Favorite CNN Star — Despite Network Hammering Him with Cratering Polls first appeared on Mediaite.

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