If CNN did not exist, President Donald Trump might have had to build it.
On Monday, after Trump announced his decision to federalize Washington, D.C.’s, Metropolitan Police Department in order to fight rampant crime, CNN’s Abby Phillip, in a segment intended as hostile, compared the president to the crime-fighting superhero Batman, which, in the opinions of various users on the social media platform X, made Trump sound “cool.”
“Donald Trump makes himself Batman,” Phillip said in a clip posted to X. “And the nation’s capital is Gotham City.”
And she meant that as critical?
“That makes President Trump sound SUPER COOL!” one X user wrote.
CNN’s Abby Phillip:
“Donald Trump makes himself Batman and the nation’s capital is Gotham City.”
That makes President Trump sound SUPER COOL!
Don’t think that was Abby’s intention at all. pic.twitter.com/DeNP1nUVwh
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) August 12, 2025
Another X user agreed, writing simply “Cool!”
Cool! 😎
— Dustin Bower (@DustinTBower) August 12, 2025
Have Trump’s adversaries inadvertently made him more popular?
As they often do, X users made the comparison much cooler by posting a series of clever memes.
One such meme, for instance, showed the Bat-Signal projecting an image not of Batman’s logo but of Trump’s signature coiffure. Others showed the president dressed as Batman or hinted that he secretly was the Caped Crusader.
— sirtemplemount (@sirtemplemount) August 12, 2025
Trump may actually be Batman pic.twitter.com/q9nZPz4FvD
— Tim Liberatore (@Diver_tim) August 12, 2025
— Giacomo Carnevale (@GiacomoCarnvale) August 12, 2025
Of course, Phillip’s comparison of D.C. to Gotham City also resonated with X users. After all, even D.C.’s Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser and the city’s police chief admitted that Trump’s federal takeover bolstered their undermanned police force and thus aided their crime-fighting efforts.
If DC is Gotham, it’s only because Democrats turned it into a crime-ridden cesspool.
Trump cleaning it up isn’t a roleplay, it’s leadership. And judging by the panic in the media, he’s hitting all the right villains.
— Crushing Woke Culture (@CrushWokeAgenda) August 12, 2025
LOL! DC isn’t classy enough to be Gotham City!
— 🇺🇲🗑Small Town Chick🇺🇲 (@ejc9029) August 12, 2025
If he’s Batman then Gotham just got a whole lot safer.
— NoWoke Times (@NoWokeTimes) August 12, 2025
Above all, however, X users marveled at CNN’s ineptitude or tone-deafness. Who knows what to call it? The network apparently believed that comparing Trump to Batman and D.C. to Gotham City would make viewers sympathetic to Bowser’s initial characterization of the federal takeover as “unsettling.” (Bowser later partially reversed herself, as noted above.)
Either CNN is doing a complete 360 or that writer is getting fired
— Victims Rights (@VictimsRightsUS) August 12, 2025
CNN can’t even pretend to be objective. If it weren’t for Jennings their ratings would be on the right side of a decimal point.
— Gerald Armstrong (@GeraldArms77231) August 12, 2025
She acts like this is a bad thing. Then again, she’s a leftist so she’s pro-crime
— Lady Hairball (@LadyHairball) August 13, 2025
She acts like this is a bad thing. Then again, she’s a leftist so she’s pro-crime
— Lady Hairball (@LadyHairball) August 13, 2025
We really do live in a remarkable time.
First, Phillip accidentally gave Trump one of the coolest comparisons possible.
Then, Democrats spent days defending rampant crime and arraying themselves against Batman.
“With enemies like these,” the president must be thinking, “who needs public relations?”
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