Hell must’ve frozen over, because even CNN’s data guru Harry Enten is giving President Trump some serious props—and not just a little grudging respect, either. In a rare moment of mainstream media lucidity, Enten described Trump’s second term not as the slow wind-down of a so-called “lame duck” presidency, but as the full-throttle return of a political juggernaut.
“He ain’t no lame duck. If anything, he’s a soaring eagle,” Enten said Tuesday, setting aside the Beltway hand-wringing long enough to acknowledge the blinding pace at which Trump is remaking Washington.
CNN's Harry Enten on @POTUS' historic effort to Make America Great Again:
"He ain't no lame duck. If anything, he's a soaring eagle… You can't say that he's coming and not trying to deliver on… his promises on the campaign trail… he's doing so in HISTORIC fashion." pic.twitter.com/nTTBiYyO1C
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 8, 2025
In just his first 100 days back in office, Trump has signed an eye-popping 111 executive orders—a figure that hasn’t been seen since the days of Harry Truman. And the year’s barely started. “It’s the most in any single year since the early 1950s,” Enten noted, adding, “Whether you like Trump or you don’t like him, you can’t say that he’s not delivering.”
That’s right. While the D.C. swamp was busy predicting gridlock and a second-term slowdown, Trump has been bulldozing his way through every agency, trade deal, and bureaucratic barrier standing between him and his campaign promises.
A recent CNN survey showed that 86% of respondents, including large numbers of independents and even Democrats, agreed that Trump’s second-term agenda is unlike anything they’ve ever seen. “He is doing it his way,” Enten said, quoting Frank Sinatra.
Of course, this unexpected moment of honesty from CNN hasn’t come without some internal tension. Sources say longtime anti-Trump screecher Jim Acosta was quietly shipped off to the network’s midnight lineup earlier this year—what some insiders are calling the “Siberia shift.” Unsurprisingly, Acosta opted to resign rather than continue his career in journalistic exile.
Meanwhile, CNN’s remaining faces—Jake Tapper, Anderson Cooper, and the rest of the self-important choir—have reportedly been warned by new network president Chris Thompson to tone it down or risk further alienating an audience already tuning out in droves.
Translation: even CNN knows Trump isn’t just back—he’s winning, and this time, there’s no Russiagate, no impeachment circus, and no media smokescreen big enough to hide it.
Harry Enten just said the quiet part out loud: Trump’s not a lame duck—he’s a force of nature.