A Network That Cannot Let Go
Oh Noes! CNN is back with a new "fact-check" that claims President Donald Trump lied 78 times about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky failing to express his gratitude.
78.
I wonder if the network worked overtime to reach such a count. Instead of covering real problems facing the country, their focus is on a spreadsheet tracking every Trump speech, social media post, and thought procured by an honest-to-God psychic.
CNN's Daniel Dale claims Zelensky thanked the United States many times. Fine. It's something leaders do; courtesy is part of the job description. President Trump often speaks of the leadership, the tone, and the trust gap building around Ukraine. Dale decided to ignore that while deciding to count sound bites like he was collecting bottle caps.
The Goal Looks Personal, Not Journalistic
President Trump speaks plainly, and when the topic of Ukraine comes up, he turns blunt, questioning the strategy, the cost, and whether American support is being used wisely.
Trump’s claim is not even close to accurate.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has expressed gratitude to the United States on dozens of occasions – 78 examples are listed below – since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of his country in early 2022. And Zelensky has repeatedly expressed gratitude to Trump personally since Trump was elected again last fall.
Zelensky has said it on social media, sometimes tagging Trump’s account. He has said it to Trump face-to-face. He has said it to Trump appointees and members of Congress. He has said it in Ukraine, in the US, and in other countries.
In fact, Zelensky said it last week.
None of those statements was taken seriously by CNN. Instead, the network insisted Trump meant Zelensky never expressed gratitude in any form — a paper-thin reading of a much larger point.
Reading like a scorecard, the network's fact check isn't a search for truth, but it illustrates one: If you need 78 entries to prove dishonesty, you schmaybe don't have a strong case — you're only building a list to force a conclusion that doesn't hold up on its own.
Seventy-Eight Tells Its Own Story
The number alone tells a story about intent. Someone at that desk wanted a headline with weight, not a single correction or quick explanation. It's a giant number, noteworthy enough to get clicks from the anti-Trump crowd.
It passes by the CNN editors as if it's nothing but a puff piece on Michelle Obama. There's no concern about how petty it sounds — just a long list of counted statements that show more about CNN's obsession than anything about President Trump.
A Strange Silence When Democrats Tell the Big Ones
When looking back at the last two Democratic administrations, a strange pattern emerges.
And, yes, I'm going there.
President Barack Obama told the country many times that people could keep their health plans under the Affordable Care Act, a claim that collapsed when millions lost their plans. Networks gave the fallout a couple of quick mentions, and then they dropped it like they would a MAGA hat. It was such a grotesque statement that Politifact named it the Lie of the Year.
There were no 78-count crusades or daily reminders.
Of course, we can't forget about President Joe Biden. The 46th President, non compos mentis himself, delivered several whoppers of his own, from claims about marching during the civil rights era to visiting the Tree of Life synagogue after the attack, and about his academic and sports records.
None of it was true.
The media gently treated those claims as corrections, not scandals, without scoreboards or broadcast chyrons lined with tallies.
The left/right news imbalance has always leaned away from the right, but since Obama, the inequality has grown much more blatant than any list CNN has published. When Democrats mislead, the networks grin, shrug, and move along. When President Trump speaks bluntly, the networks fire up an abacus and declare a crisis.
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A Larger Truth About Media Exhaustion
Americans fight through rising prices, border chaos, and global instability while working long hours, raising their kids, and wanting news that matters.
We want clarity, yet CNN offers a spreadsheet of 78 remarks about gratitude. It's a mismatch evident to the voters, who know when a news outlet has locked into a single mission: Get Trump, every hour, every day.
Not caring, CNN's mission drains trust, pushes people away, and makes politics feel scripted and stale.
If the members of the press ever decide to wonder why people tune them out, the answer is sitting right in front of them.
The Ukraine Angle CNN Refuses to Explore
Americans deserve an honest conversation about Ukraine and the right to question long-term commitments. In exchange for aid, many want accountability.
President Trump taps into that concern, talking about results and asking where the money goes. He talks policy, not pleasantries.
CNN treated the gratitude issue like a crime scene and walked straight past the larger story. While gratitude sounds nice, it solves nothing. Leaders use strategy, courage, and clarity.
Something that doesn't move the needle? Thank-you speeches.
The Hunt Overshadows the News
Bigger things get lost when a network spends this amount of time and energy to prove a narrow point. The country faces serious problems when a network chooses to chase a moment that then becomes entertainment, not information — a shift voters feel. They know when a newsroom stops explaining events and begins rehearsals for a script.
Hunts like this overshadow news that matters, while the noise drowns out the facts. It's a whole exercise that grows tiresome for anyone who wants a simple explanation of what happened and why.
Final Thoughts
CNN's 78-count attack on President Trump reveals a problem that grows deeper each year. Journalism loses its footing when coverage turns into a scoreboard.
A nation hungry for clarity can't trust outlets that treat politics like a game show where the winner depends on how many marks you can tally against a single man.
We deserve better than a list of 78 remarks gathered for effect. We want cause, context, or truth. What our current version of the legacy media keeps missing out on is that focusing on those goals earns trust. But a media that hunts first and informs later doesn't.
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