The Most Brutal Moments In Donald Trump And CNN Anchor Anderson Cooper's Feud

In the last decade, people have seen Donald Trump criticizing his political opponents and several journalists for allegedly treating him unfairly and misrepresenting his perspective. However, his long-running feud with CNN journalist Anderson Cooper goes well beyond personal enmity and exemplifies the broader confrontation between the media and politicians in America. Both personalities have seemingly confirmed that they don't like each other. Trump doesn't like the senior political commentator for his supposedly biased analysis, while Cooper feels the same about the former president and doesn't shy away from criticizing him for his controversial remarks. At times, however, the tension becomes very intense.

The feud between Cooper and Trump began when the businessman launched his election campaign in 2016. As Trump started gathering steam, the CNN correspondent began fact-checking his comments on live television and condemning him for his disputable remarks. Correspondingly, Trump accused CNN and the broadcaster of spreading "fake news" about him. Since then, both continue to publicly denounce each other. But there were moments when things got out of hand and people realized the brutality of this long-standing quarrel. So, let's rewind the clock and look at some of the most ruthless moments in the clash between Cooper and Trump.

In 2016, CNN hosted a town hall event for the Republican nominee Donald Trump, and Anderson Cooper was given the task of moderating the event. Trump gave his perspective on several issues, including nuclear threats. However, things became a little too complicated when Cooper asked the former President about his relationship with fellow Republican Ted Cruz. In March 2016, Trump shared an unflattering picture of Cruz's wife Heidi Cruz on Twitter and captioned it, "A picture is worth a thousand words." The post featured a photo of Melania Trump, next to a picture of Heidi. 

During the conversation, Cooper asked him about the ongoing feud and confronted him for using an uncomplimentary picture of Cruz's wife on social media. "I didn't start it," Trump replied to Cooper when he asked the question. For the uninitiated, Trump posted the aforementioned picture on X (formerly known as Twitter) after a racy image of his wife Melania went viral across social media platforms. Conversely, he alleged that Cruz bought the rights to that particular image and gave it to a super PAC that used the image in an advertisement (per USA Today).

Although Trump kept on repeating that he didn't start the fight, Cooper didn't approve of his argument and said, "Sir, with all due respect, that's the argument of a 5-year-old." But Trump didn't take a step back and kept on accusing Cruz of providing the picture to the super PAC.

The COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc in the U.S. and claimed millions of lives. In May 2020, while discussing the pandemic on CNN, Anderson Cooper noted the devastating effects and didn't shy away from slamming then-President Donald Trump for ignoring the pandemic and instead focusing more on promoting ludicrous conspiracy theories. 

On May 12, 2020, Trump floated a conspiracy theory about Joe Scarborough allegedly getting away with murder. Bizarrely, Trump accused Scarborough of allegedly killing his former aide in the early 2000s and continued attacking the former U.S. representative without any evidence. Furthermore, Trump didn't back away from advertising such a theory even when the deceased's husband requested (via The Independent) that Trump and the social media platform delete posts about his wife's accidental death.

While addressing Trump's conspiracy theory, the CNN journalist noted that his allegations caused more pain to the deceased's family. He said, "What a little man. He's just a little man. He's the leader of the free world and he is a little, little man."

In May 2020, Donald Trump Jr. denounced CNN for including Greta Thunberg in its town hall event dedicated to COVID-19. He used sarcasm to address the matter, tweeting and calling Thunberg "a world-renowned infectious disease specialist and epidemiologist." His response spread like wildfire on social media, prompting Anderson Cooper to take the matter into his own hands. The political commentator gave a fiery response (via X) and criticized his supporters for attacking a young woman. He added, "Look, I get Donny Trump Jr. attacking CNN and a 17-year-old Swede. That's like low-hanging fruit, but I just find it fascinating to watch the phony online outrage machine generate content on Twitter based on something that was never real to begin with."

Later, Don Jr. retweeted an article from NewsBusters and mocked the journalist by posting a photo of Cooper covering the devastating effects of Hurricane Ike in Texas in 2008 with a clown emoji. The image showed Cooper in waist-deep water while his camera crew stood on higher ground in ankle-deep water. 

This was not the first time Don Jr. mocked Cooper and CNN for their coverage. In 2018, he retweeted the photo featuring Cooper covering the hurricane, asking CNN to stop showing his father in bad light. In response, Cooper said that Trump Jr. had the time to spread lies, but not help people.

When Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, the rivalry between Cooper and Trump got even worse. After losing the elections, Trump falsely claimed that he won the election and railed against the mail-in voting process, alleging that a lot of illegal votes were cast in the election, and he bashed the system for voter fraud. His conspiracy theories didn't sit well with Cooper, prompting him to respond to such preposterous remarks. While addressing his comments, the CNN correspondent blasted the former President for believing what he saw on the internet, and Cooper called him a schoolyard-worthy insult.

"That is the president of the United States. That is the most powerful person in the world. We see him like an obese turtle on his back flailing in the hot sun, realizing his time is over," Cooper said (via X). Soon after he made those comments, Trump's supporters criticized Cooper for using such derogatory language for the former president. However, in November 2020, he said (via USA Today), "I regret using those words because that's not the person I really wanna be. It was in the moment."

With the 2024 Presidential elections just around the corner, Donald Trump is getting heated. Apart from bashing Kamala Harris during his rallies, Trump also took a dig at Anderson Cooper and referred to the host by a woman's first name. On October 25, 2024, Trump attacked Harris on TruthSocial and claimed that her poll numbers had dropped significantly. In the same post, he referred to the CNN anchor as "Allison Cooper." However, he didn't stop there, and continued to mock the news veteran in his rallies as well. While holding a rally in Michigan in October 2024, he continued his rhetoric and denounced CNN for hosting an embarrassing town hall event with Harris. "You know Allison Cooper? CNN fake news. Oh, she said no, his name is Anderson. Oh, no," Trump said in his rally (per The New York Times).

Shockingly, he did something similar at another rally in Michigan. His behavior sparked controversy and prompted people to call out the former President for using homophobic slurs.