Former CNN star Jim Acosta says two senior diplomats recently told him that Donald Trump’s second administration reminds them of Germany in the 1930s.
Acosta, 55, shared the claim during a Saturday livestream with economist Justin Wolfers, as they discussed the United States’ escalating trade dispute with Canada.
After Wolfers signed off, Acosta continued the broadcast alone and turned to the broader diplomatic fallout from the Trump administration’s policies.
“Some of the loveliest people you could meet are outside the borders of the United States, living in places and countries that we consider close friends of the United States, close friends of America,” he began.
Acosta then recounted an exchange he said took place at “a diplomatic function.”
“I had an ambassador to one of our allies in Europe come up to me and say, ‘What’s happening right now, Jim, reminds me of Germany in the 1930s,’” he said.
Acosta claimed that an ambassador representing “another US ally,” who was also at the event, nodded in agreement.
“Yep. Yep,” Acosta said the second diplomat replied.
Former CNN star Jim Acosta says two high-ranking US diplomats recently told him that Donald Trump’s second presidency reminds them of “Germany in the 1930s.” He did not identify the ambassadors.
Acosta shared the anecdote while discussing the United States’ ongoing trade dispute with Canada. He left CNN last year after Trump was reelected.
“They were both saying the same thing. And, you know, it is funny to see the memes making fun of it — President Trump stepping on a rake and acting like a fool on the world stage,” Acosta said.
“But it is having real-world consequences.”
Acosta left CNN last year after a programming shake-up would have moved his morning show to midnight. At the time, he said he would refuse “to bow down to a tyrant” on air. Trump had been sworn into office days earlier.
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“It is having lasting consequences for our relationships with our friends around the world,” Acosta continued Saturday on his web program, The Jim Acosta Show.
He pointed to Canada’s status as one of the United States’ closest allies, saying America’s northern neighbor “was with us shoulder to shoulder after 9/11.”
“They’ve been with us shoulder to shoulder on D-Day and in so many other cases, when America’s back was against the wall and the fate of the world was on the line,” the journalist-turned-political commentator said.
“Canadians have been there for the United States. Canadians have been there for humanity, for democracy and for freedom around the world.”
Acosta then played a clip of Trump signing an executive order to change Lake Ontario’s name to “Lake America.”
President Trump signed an executive order changing Lake Ontario’s name to Lake America at the White House on Thursday, after trade talks between the United States and Canada collapsed the previous week.
“Siri, show me a sellout,” Acosta wrote in a subsequent post on X, referring to Google’s recognition of the name change.
As he signed the executive order in the Oval Office, Trump told reporters: “Lake of America was something I’ve been thinking about for a long time.”
A map carrying the slogan “Making the Great Lakes Even Greater” was displayed behind him.
The move came after trade negotiations between the two countries collapsed that week and Trump imposed 50 percent tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods. Canada responded with matching tariffs on some US products.
Trump had already renamed the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America the previous year.
“Now all we need is an ocean,” he joked Thursday.
