CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta expressed hope Wednesday that President Donald Trump's supporters would "run out of anger" and start to "binge-watch something else" in response to his rhetoric against the press.
Acosta has frequently sparred with Trump and White House staff and been the subject of multiple media profiles for the sharp tone of his coverage. He recounted for CNN his experience covering Trump's Tuesday night rally in Nashville, Tennessee, which included being repeatedly heckled by one Trump supporter as a "scumbag."
"I've been doing this for awhile, so I'm not too put off by it," Acosta said.
He added he was heartened by having a pleasant conversation with another Trump fan, though, who was wearing a "You Are Fake News" t-shirt. Acosta said for the most part, the rally attendants he spoke with just wanted to talk about what was happening in the news, even if some, in his words, parroted anti-media talking points from "Fox News and other conspiracy-minded websites."
Trump repeatedly referring to media as 'fake news" at rally in TN. Crowd is cheering as usual. But plenty of folks have come up to us in press cage and been very nice. Including this man. We had a very nice chat. pic.twitter.com/KopLPK00EI
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) May 30, 2018
"I really wonder whether Trump's supporters are going to run out of anger before the president himself does, and I was starting to get the sense of that last night," he said.
A few said they appreciated what the media did in spite of the White House's strong rhetoric against them, he added.
"My sense of it is that while he whips up this frenzy and tries to turn his crowd against us at these rallies, that there are many, many people there who just are perhaps enjoying the show and perhaps understand that some of this is an act," Acosta said. "But in the long run, they may be coming out of this sense of hostility he's placed in many of them towards us."
"My sense of it is that perhaps while the president seems to have this ability to divide and conquer and pit one crowd against another at these rallies and so on, that maybe over time, his supporters might say, 'You know what? This isn't working any more.' They may want to go binge-watch something else," he added.