'Not who we are': Jim Acosta rips cabinet's 'sycophantic' response to 'dear leader' Trump

During his years on CNN, reporter Jim Acosta wasn't shy about asking Democrats tough questions. But it is the tough questions Acosta asked Republicans — including members and allies of the first Trump Administration — that angered many pro-Donald Trump right-wing media pundits.

The 53-year-old Acosta, since his recent departure from CNN, is keeping busy with his program "The Jim Acosta Show" on YouTube and with a blog column he is publishing via SubStack.

In his March 1 column, Acosta offers biting criticism of GOP responses to President Trump and Vice President JD Vance's contentious Friday, February 28 meeting with visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House Oval Office. Trump angrily attacked Zelensky, accusing him of "gambling with World War 3" and being ungrateful for the military aide it received from the United States.

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"Trump's disastrous Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, was just the latest 'in case of emergency, stroke POTUS' moment," Acosta argues. "Cabinet members jumped into 'dear leader' mode, blasting out what were clearly choreographed posts on X. Just in case the president started checking his notifications."

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, for example, tweeted, "I am so proud of our Commander-in-Chief. Thank you President @RealDonaldTrump and @VP for standing up for America. We will not tolerate the political games and disrespect of America. America is back."

On X, Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted, "Thank you @POTUS for standing up for America in a way that no President has ever had the courage to do before. Thank you for putting America First. America is with you!"

But Acosta laments that when a president makes a "shameful" attack on a U.S. ally and members of his administration give a "sycophantic" response in defense of him, it is sadly unamerican.

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"Trump's shameful repudiation of Zelensky was much more than an embarrassing moment in American diplomacy, on par with the president's disgraceful embrace of Vladimir Putin in Helsinki," Acosta writes. "It was not just a televised excommunication of a key U.S. ally, fighting for its survival. This was a signal across the oceans that the United States of America, proud home of 'The Greatest Generation' that stormed the beaches of Normandy to defeat the Nazis, was no longer in the business of saving the world."

The former CNN reporter adds, "Instead, Trump will trade vague offers of security for the natural resources of vulnerable, weaker nations - rare earth minerals in the case of Ukraine. Welcome 'The Grifter Generation.' This is not who we are."

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Read Jim Acosta's full column at this link.