Trump mocks CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, renewing dinner debate
The latest cnn kaitlan collins trump clash erupted after President Donald Trump mocked the CNN anchor at the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Dinner, comparing her to Dylan Mulvaney and later sharing a doctored image. The episode has renewed debate over ending the annual dinner.
Key Takeaways
- Trump targeted CNN’s Kaitlan Collins during a roughly hourlong WHCD speech, calling her award “fake” and telling her to “just smile.”
- He compared Collins to transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney and the 2023 Bud Light campaign backlash.
- On Sunday, Trump shared a photoshopped image placing Collins’ face on Mulvaney’s body in the Bud Light ad.
- Collins answered with an Instagram post defending the First Amendment; Mulvaney thanked Trump for reminding her she is “more powerful.”
- CNN’s leadership backed Collins, and reporting says the dinner’s future is again in limbo.
What did Trump say about CNN’s Kaitlan Collins?
At Friday’s rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, Trump congratulated Collins on an award, then dismissed it. “It was all about me. It’s a fake — she shouldn’t get the award,” he said, according to reporting from Rolling Stone and Fox News.
He also criticized her demeanor on camera. “She never smiles,” Trump said, urging, “Smile, Kaitlan. Just smile.” Fox News reported Collins won the WHCA Award for Excellence in Presidential News Coverage Under Deadline Pressure for her reporting on the February 2025 Oval Office meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Trump.
The dinner itself was a redo. The original April event was disrupted after a gunman fired shots at the Washington Hilton, Rolling Stone reported. Trump’s Friday remarks ran about an hour and ended with him donning a red “Trump 2028” hat while claiming he was joking about a third term.
Why did the Dylan Mulvaney comparison fuel the backlash?
Trump said he briefly thought Collins “had really made it big with a major new sponsorship,” then told her the Bud Light can featured Mulvaney instead. He called the 2023 promotion “the worst commercial ever made” and claimed it cost Bud Light billions in market value.
Fox News noted Anheuser-Busch faced a prolonged boycott and a more than $27 billion market-cap hit after Mulvaney’s Instagram spot. On Sunday, Trump doubled down by posting a photoshopped image of Collins’ face on Mulvaney’s body in the ad, Rolling Stone reported—digital doctoring that has kept the clash in the social-media spotlight and adjacent to debates covered across Future Tech & AI Wonders.
CNN Chairman and CEO Mark Thompson defended the network’s reporting rights under the U.S. Constitution, saying honest journalism “may sometimes irritate politicians.”
How did Collins and Mulvaney respond?
Collins posted Instagram photos capped with Eleanor Roosevelt’s line: “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” She said the best part of the night was “reminding everyone why the First Amendment—and asking uncomfortable questions that people in power don’t like—matters,” after receiving an award from mentor Wolf Blitzer.
Mulvaney broke her lower profile with a video congratulating Collins. She said being “publicly mocked and criticized by this administration is actually like the greatest compliment of all,” and told Trump, “thank you for reminding me that I am more powerful than I even knew.”
According to The Washington Post’s framing of the fallout, Trump’s fresh mocking of the CNN reporter has renewed calls to end the correspondents’ dinner, leaving the tradition—and parts of the media relationship around it—“in limbo.” The clash underscores how a single viral roast can reopen whether the WHCD still serves the press corps it claims to celebrate.