Well, here’s something you definitely don’t see every day: A MAGA hat-wearing Trump fan who is clearly a resident of Florida, as evidenced by his appearance at least at his second Trump rally in the state was on hand in Fort Myers for Trump’s rally Wednesday night, and he wanted to speak to a reporter — without any curse words involved.
CNN’s Jim Acosta, who has been the subject of possibly more scorn and abuse than almost any white reporter since the beginning of Trump’s presidency, was approached by the man, who told him he wanted to apologize for having flipped Acosta off at a Tampa rally earlier this year.
One imagines that perhaps the man saw his picture get passed around Facebook with his face in a snarl, middle finger extended in an act of sheer hatred and realized that he looked childish or cruel, and decided to reach out to Acosta when he spotted him.
Regardless of the circumstances, the irony of the apology couldn’t be higher, coming on the same night that Trump verbally shook his fist against the media, inexplicably blaming them for the 13 deaths last week at the hands of far-right white nationalist terrorists, despite Trump himself having been cited by the attackers.
In the video Acosta tweeted, he greets the Trump power couple, Merlin and Eileen, whose last name I couldn’t quite make out through the noise and the accent, and Merlin explains that he simply “got carried away” at the Tampa rally when he gave Acosta the finger.
I just wanted to apologize for flipping you off in Tampa. I got carried away. It’s like, I was asking for facts and not opinions, and… That’s all we want. But I did get carried away, so I just wanted to apologize.”
Acosta thanked them for the apology and wished them well.
Watch this extraordinary exchange here:
Had a hell of a night in Fort Myers. This man apologized for giving me the finger at a rally earlier this year in Tampa. Really. We had a moment. pic.twitter.com/Kfm0J0TbsC
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) November 1, 2018
Featured image via screen capture
