While Newsmax Compares Trump To Batman, CNN’s Jim Acosta Called Him A Clown And ‘A Karen’ At The Grocery Store

Donald Trump’s latest vacation from resort life in exile will come at CPAC Dallas on Sunday, with a speech that’s expected to be a greatest hits of trips down memory lane and lies about the election he didn’t win. The disconnect between Trump, his rabid supporters and reality is fairly distinct at this point. But perhaps nothing has made that clearer than the difference between more traditional cable news coverage of Trump on CNN and what’s played on right wing outlet Newsmax.

Over the weekend, for example, Newsmax’s Benny Johnson drew scorn on social media for comparing Trump to Batman for “throwing away” a life of privilege to get “their hands dirty.”

“Both Trump and Batman are rich, mysterious, unpredictable guys. They own skyscrapers in Gotham,” Johnson said. “They have a cult-like status, for throwing their privileged lives away and getting their hands dirty.”

He also showed a clip where a young child asks Trump if he is Batman, to which he repeats that he is. Johnson loves the clip, he says, and continues to explain why it’s the perfect comparison between the real-life failed blogger and the fictional superhero.

The journalist once fired for plagiarism saw his Batman riff accompanied by an image of Trump with its shadow altered to look like that of the caped crusader, something that’s been shared by other Trump sycophants like Dan Scavino in the past.

The comparison drew predictable eye-rolling from people outside of Newsmax’s viewing audience as it spread online. Meanwhile, over on CNN Jim Acosta continued his Saturday monologues railing against Trump, first comparing him to a clown before saying that comparison is “most definitely an insult to clowns.”

Acosta joked that we should “hide the flags” as Trump returns to the CPAC stage — he famously hugged one repeatedly at a prior experience. And he noted that Trump “seems to be spending his post-presidency playing president” with the campaign rallies and speeches he’s giving after a brief period of exile after an insurrection attempt. He also claimed some have called his previous comparisons of Trump to a clown simply wasn’t fair.

“An expert on the circus industry recently reached out to me and urged me to not compare Trump and his comeback tour to clowns at the circus,” Acosta said. “As that is an insult to clowns. I agree.”

Instead, Acosta said Trump is more like the stereotype of a “Karen” that’s circulated online in recent months, an impatient and usually incorrect customer demanding to see management for some perceived slight that may or may not exist.

“He’s more like one of those mask-hating customers at the grocery store. A Karen, or whatever the name would be in Trump’s case,” Acosta said. “You can almost hear him saying, ‘I want to talk to the manager about the election, I want to talk to the manager of Twitter or Facebook.’

“And the American people are kind of like the store manager,” Acosta continued. “We have to explain, ‘Well sir, you lied about the election, you incited an insurrection. You’re going to have to leave the store or we’re calling security. Please take your fake White House seal, and go play president somewhere else.’”

Metaphors are always a bit shaky depending on perspective, of course. And comparing Trump to something of an internet meme certainly minimizes the actual things the twice-impeached president has done and encouraged from others. But it’s certainly a vast difference in what’s being broadcast on the networks, and the audiences for which those networks are intended.