Even by Jim Acosta standards, the former CNN correspondent’s tirade on The Contrarian podcast Monday was pretty terrible. Following the weekend’s No Kings protests, it should come as no surprise that Acosta had a lot of smoke to blow on the immigration issues in contention. Chatting with hosts Jen Rubin and April Ryan, Acosta was full of praise for the “peaceful, nonviolent protests” against President Trump’s “regime.”
Acosta insisted:
This feels like the beginning of something that is building in this country, and Donald Trump, he laid this trap, he set out this mouse trap, he put the bait on it. He was hoping that protesters would show up and that there would be a confrontation and that they could go in there and crack some skulls because that's what he wants. He wants those images playing on Fox and in conservative media and by and large it seems the protesters did not give Trump what he wanted.
He would also add that Trump was fishing for violence, waiting for protestors to show so he could “crack some skulls” and enforce his power. It’s unclear where he got this idea from, but the numerous violent criminals arrested in recent protests for actions in no way related to federal uses of force should be evidence enough against this.
The motivation behind Trump’s supposed desire to crack skulls? According to Acosta, it was his racism.
Later, when asked by Ryan what one question he would ask Trump and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt if given the chance, Acosta answered: “Why do you hate the Hispanic people of our country?” “Of our country” was an interesting way of describing Trump’s primary target; illegal immigrants who actually are not from our country.
But Acosta used this point as the defense for the rest of his arguments. Why was Senator Padilla removed from a press conference he barged in yelling at DHS Secretary Kristi Noem? Because Trump hated his “brown skin and Spanish last name.” Why did Leavitt refuse to give Acosta an interview with Trump? Because they’re “wimps” (Never mind that Trump gave an interview to Terry Moran before ABC fired him for posts about Stephen Miller.) Acosta also claimed he would ask, ““Why do you hate the Hispanic people of this country? Why do you hate the Latino people of this country? Just tell me, what, what, what happened?”
Acosta continued to weave his fictional tapestry, going so far as to call for a Hispanic civil rights movement in America. Considering Hispanics in America are already provided the same civil rights all other citizens are, it’s unclear what exactly Acosta hoped this movement would achieve.
On top of his ramblings, Acosta took his commentary even further, launching a disrespectful joke at the President’s deceased ex-wife, Ivana Trump:
Can somebody call ICE on the Trump golf course in Virginia? You're telling me there's nobody in there. That is undocumented or has some kind of squirreliness going on with their paperwork? Give me a break. Hey, how many, how many immigrants has he married? He's got one buried at his golf course in New Jersey. Isn't she buried by the first hole or the second tee or something like that?
Doubling down, Acosta added: “Immigrants, always doing the jobs that Americans don’t want to do!”
This wildly irreverent aside garnered laughs from his two hosts, as well as some not-as-positive reactions from the White House. Leavitt condemned Acosta as a “disgraceful human being” for his comment, solidifying the fact that he, unsurprisingly, would not be getting his interview with the President any time soon.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read.
The Contrarian
June 16, 2025
2:09
(...)
JIM ACOSTA: This feels like the beginning of something that is building in this country and Donald Trump, he laid this trap, he set out this mouse trap, he put the bait on it. He was hoping that protesters would show up and that there would be a confrontation and that they could go in there and crack some skulls because that's what he wants. He wants those images playing on Fox and in conservative media and by and large it seems the protesters did not give Trump what he wanted and I think that's a very clear and convincing, I think, testament to the power of the people getting out in the streets and making their voices heard.
JEN RUBIN: Exactly, and you know, the point is not to eliminate conflict. We're a big great democracy with lots of different people. It's to resolve our differences and our conflicts peacefully. I have to ask you because I know you know him from coverage and he's really kind of a beloved figure, um, around The Capitol.
What did you think when you saw the footage of Senator Alex Padilla, really manhandled, thrown to the ground, handcuffed for asking a question, I must say I thought a little bit about another reporter who asked questions and paid a penalty, but in this case, he received violence. He was brutalized. What did you think when you saw Senator Alex Padilla the other day?
ACOSTA: I have to say, Jen, my blood was boiling after I saw what took place with Senator Padilla. I immediately went on my Substack and spoke with my friend Maria Cardona about this. I believe that that only happened because Senator Alex Padilla has brown skin and has a Spanish last name, has a Hispanic last name. I do – would they have thrown Lindsey Graham to the ground? Come on, give me a break. Would they have thrown, you know, Senator Rand Paul to the ground like that? Of course not. And the reason why that happened to Alex Padilla is because of who he is and where he comes from.
(...)
4:55
ACOSTA: We need it, and I, and again if I get the words wrong, forgive me, but I do in my deepest part of my soul believe that we need a civil rights movement of Latinos and Latinas in this country. We need a movement. We need a million Latino-Latina rally march on the National Mall here in Washington DC. I think it is high time for something like that to happen in this country. We need Latino leaders in this country to come together and coalesce, and where is Marco Rubio?
APRIL RYAN: He’s at the parade.
ACOSTA: My god, he's the Secretary of State. Where is he?
RYAN: He's at the parade.
ACOSTA: He's at the parade. But my god, look at the, look at the way that the Trump administration is treating Cuban refugees. The United States is turning its back on people fleeing totalitarianism. I can't believe this is the United States of America. It just, it doesn't make any sense to me.
(...)
6:19
ACOSTA: The No Kings protests, I think, set a very important marker in this country, and that is peaceful, nonviolent protests can happen in America against this regime, and it can make change.
(...)
6:47
APRIL RYAN: So Jim, you know, today is a mush of, like you said, a lot of different things, from the ICE raids, due process that we're not seeing in some of these cases, profiling, also the fact that this president is – has just cut across laws, he's doing what he wants. If you had a chance to be back in that briefing room or in the Oval Office, what would you ask Karoline Leavitt or the president?
ACOSTA: Well, it's funny that you mention that. I asked Karoline Leavitt the other day. I sent her a message over uh X DM,
RYAN: Email?
ACOSTA: And I said, I, not email, I'm going to do that, April, but I did, I did it over a DM and I said, “can I have an interview with Donald Trump?” And she wrote back and said, “With you” question mark and I said, “yeah.” And I didn't hear back from her, so the offer has been extended.
RYAN: Wait a minute. This is breaking news. This is breaking news. This is breaking news, okay?
ACOSTA: I did, I did put that out there. They, they're wimps. They're never going to let me in there. They're never going to give that interview
RYAN: You're not going to get an interview. You need to keep, you need to –
ACOSTA: But Donald Trump, let me tell you something. The question I would ask is this, “Why do you hate the Hispanic people of this country? Why do you hate the Latino people of this country? Just tell me, what, what, what happened? What happened to you, Stephen Miller?”
RYAN: You and I know this. You and I covered that first administration. You and I know this. What does 2035 look like? It looks like brown America. He does not like the browning of America. You know why.
ACOSTA: Yeah.
RYAN: It's just like when I asked the question, “Mr. President, are you racist?” We, I didn't need to ask that now.
ACOSTA: But you, you know what that means, April. But April, you know what that means for a man that likes to have a dictator parade for himself with the paratroopers jumping out of airplanes and God bless them, God bless the United States Army. My grandfather was in the army. He's buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Donald Trump likes to hug the flag and say he loves America, but if what you're saying is true, April, what this means is Donald Trump hates America.
He actually hates what America is becoming. And if he hates the fact that we're becoming a more diverse, more loving, more together country, then that I think is at the heart of where we are right now and that's what we're up against. We're up against somebody who hates the future of America and the future of America needs to come to the rescue of America in my view, and I think that's what we're starting to see right now.
The young people of this country get it. They totally get this. They're like, what is wrong with the olds, you know what I mean? Like, why do you have the problems with these with minorities? Why do you have problems with gays and the LGBTQ+ community? Why don't they get it? Those folks, as they get older, they're gonna have kids, they're gonna have grandkids, and this is just moving in the direction that Donald Trump doesn't like. I'm sorry you lost. You may have won this election by a smidge and you got back in the White House. Okay. Uh, there you go.
(...)
10:36
ACOSTA: I got a question though, where are the ICE raids at the Trump properties,
you know, Mar-a-Lago?
RYAN: Mar-a-Lago! Yes, indeed!
ACOSTA: I mean, can somebody call ICE on the Trump golf course in Virginia?
RUBIN: Yes, by the way—
ACOSTA: You're telling me there's nobody in there. That is undocumented or has some kind of squirreliness going on with their paperwork.
RUBIN: Yeah. Exactly.
ACOSTA: Give me a break. Hey, how many, how many immigrants has he married? He's got one buried at his golf course in New Jersey.
RUBIN: Oh, my god.
ACOSTA: Isn't she buried by the first hole or the second tee or something like that?
RYAN: The first hole, yeah, it's the first hole.
RUBIN: This is why he doesn’t like CNN.
ACOSTA: Immigrants, always doing the jobs that Americans don't want to do.
(...)
