CNN Host: Trump ‘By Any Objective Measure’ Has ‘Opponents On the Run’ After Slew of Wins

President Donald Trump is “on a roll” and “having a moment,” said CNN host Michael Smerconish on Saturday in an extensive opening commentary outlining the administration’s recent string of victories.

On the latest Smerconish from CNN, the host began his show by saying, “Donald Trump is having a moment.”

Smerconish first pointed out that he has not been “shy about voicing my disagreement” with Trump in the past, but added that, “viewed objectively,” the last week or 10 days have been the best of Trump’s second term in office.

Smerconish went over the bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities, praising the precision, stealth, and the fact that there were no American casualties, and Trump’s comments on a potential ceasefire.

He also covered NATO allies doubling their contributions, a trade deal with China, the lack of ongoing “havoc” from the implementation of tariffs, and economic wins like stock market highs and inflation lows.

“Blue collar workers have seen real wage growth of 1.7 percent in Trump’s first five months. This is the largest such increase in nearly three generations,” Smerconish said.

He talked about the border and immigration, and new analysis from Pew Research showing that Trump ” won a bigger percentage of the Latino vote than previously believed.”

“Even more surprising, perhaps, Pew Research concludes that if everyone had voted in 2024, contrary to the widely held belief that higher turnout helps Democrats, Trump would still have won,” he said.

Eventually, the CNN host wrapped up with a comparison between Trump’s first time coming into office and the second.

“Winning became a punchline that Trump’s opponents used to lampoon him in his first administration,” Smerconish said. “He was a political novice then, surrounded by a team with which he was unfamiliar, and he was probably as surprised as the rest of us were that he won the election.”

“This time is different,” he continued. “This time he came with a plan and a cabinet with senior advisers comprised of loyalists, all well known to the president. And recently, he’s exhibited a more layered approach to governing on both the domestic and international front, no longer solely guided by winning each day’s news cycle.”

And that was the segue to his conclusion that, “By any objective measure, President Trump has his opponents on the run.”

Below is CNN’s transcript of the remarks.

SMERCONISH: President Trump is having a moment. I’m Michael Smerconish in New York City.

The first five months of Trump 2.0, they’re in the books. I’m not shy about voicing my disagreement here with President Trump or doing so on radio, often, whether it’s trade, border control, Iran, I find myself agreeing with the goal but not the approach.

But viewed objectively, I have to say that Donald Trump has just had the best week or best 10 days of his second term.

I’m still not sure bombing Iran was warranted, as I said last week, I’d have liked to have seen the evidence of Iran being on the nuclear doorstep rather than take Prime Minister Netanyahu’s word for it, especially in the face of what DNI Tulsi Gabbard had testified in March and what Trump himself was saying right up until Israel launched its strike against Iran.

But the mission was carried out with stealth and with precision. There were no American casualties. And while Congress is divided after receiving briefings on the extent of the damage, I’m sure that we’ve derailed Iran’s nuclear program, at least temporarily and there’s some valuable deterrent effect for America’s adversaries who witnessed last week’s exercise.

Then last Tuesday, President Trump left the White House enroute to Europe. At the time, there was a question as to whether Israel and Iran would honor a ceasefire that caused the president to offer the most unfiltered, noncontroversial, direct words that I can recall anybody ever saying about the Middle East.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the (BLEEP) they’re doing. Do you understand that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMERCONISH: Cut to the Hague, where he arrived for NATO meetings and was able to wrangle an agreement from our allies to more than double their defense spending target, from 2 percent of gross domestic product to 5 percent by 2035. Also, while at NATO, in a press availability, he did something rare for Trump and I found rewarding, he showed empathy. It came in an exchange with a Ukrainian journalist who said that her husband was a soldier, she asked whether the U.S. would supply her country with Patriot missiles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Are you living yourself now in Ukraine?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My husband is there. And —

TRUMP: Wow. And I can see you very, you know, it’s amazing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And me with the kids, I mean, Warsaw, actually, because he wanted me to —

TRUMP: Is your husband a soldier now?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is.

TRUMP: He’s there now? They do want to have the anti-missiles. OK? As they call them the Patriots. And we’re going to see if we can make some available.

I wish you a lot of luck. I mean, I can see it’s very upsetting to you. So, say hello to your husband. OK?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMERCONISH: Also, in that presser, he was more reflective and respectful than usual of our allies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They want to protect their country and they need the United States. And without the United States, it’s not going to be the same.

And I left here differently. I left here saying that these people really love their countries. It’s not a rip off. And we’re here to help them protect their country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMERCONISH: Back at home, Trump claimed that he’s reached a trade deal with China and soon expects the same with India. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Bloomberg that the deal was signed earlier this week. China’s Commerce Ministry said Friday the two sides had further confirmed the details of the framework. Of course, Trump’s initial imposition of tariffs wreaked havoc on American markets back in the spring. But now the markets have rebounded and grown.

The S&P 500, Nasdaq hit record highs just yesterday. And it’s not just the stock market, inflation, the great economic fear of recent times seems to be tamed. The rate is now reported at 2.4 percent, down from a high of 7 percent just four years ago. Meanwhile, blue collar workers have seen real wage growth of 1.7 percent in Trump’s first five months. This is the largest such increase in nearly three generations.

Notwithstanding its impact on our national debt, there’s also hope among some that Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill will give further financial relief to blue collar workers, as well as create incentives to build more factories in the U.S. Some already see this happening. For instance, General Electric has just announced that it will invest almost half a billion dollars in moving production of washing machines from China to Kentucky.

And then there’s the border, crossings have slowed to a trickle. According to CBP’s May update, Southwest border encounters have fallen to about 282 a day, a drop of 93 percent from last year and the lowest since the early 1960s. Perhaps the loudest cheering for those border numbers is coming from America’s Latino community, which might initially sound counterintuitive.

On Thursday, Pew Research released an enormous data analysis of the 2024 election, which contains several surprises. High on that list, President Trump won a bigger percentage of the Latino vote than previously believed. Hillary Clinton had a 38 percent lead over Trump among Hispanics in 2016. Joe Biden beat Trump in this demo by 25 percentage points. Kamala Harris’ margin among these same voters over Trump just three points. Even more surprising, perhaps, Pew Research concludes that if everyone had voted in 2024, contrary to the widely held belief that higher turnout helps Democrats, Trump would still have won.

The data show 44 percent of nonvoters said that they would have gone for Trump, compared to 40 percent of nonvoters who would have gone for Harris. So if more had voted, his margin would have grown.

Yesterday came a huge decision from the Supreme Court, the high court declared that federal district judges exceeded their authority when issuing nationwide injunctions against Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship. This will, of course, strengthen executive power, both for Trump and for his successors.

And finally, a Democratic socialist just won the nomination for mayor of New York City. And perhaps you’re wondering, well, how does that affect Trump? It gives him the perfect foil, someone to play off in future political battles. This morning’s New York Post references campaign literature for Zohran Mamdani, which advocates for increased taxation for, quote, “richer and whiter neighborhoods.” Just imagine what Trump will do with that.

Winning became a punchline that Trump’s opponents used to lampoon him in his first administration. He was a political novice then, surrounded by a team with which he was unfamiliar, and he was probably as surprised as the rest of us were that he won the election.

This time is different. This time he came with a plan and a cabinet with senior advisers comprised of loyalists, all well known to the president. And recently, he’s exhibited a more layered approach to governing on both the domestic and international front, no longer solely guided by winning each day’s news cycle.

By any objective measure, President Trump has his opponents on the run.

Watch the clip above via CNN.