Ex-CNN reporter frets over dinner she had with ‘closeted’ Trump supporters: ‘Continues to haunt me’

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Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce and former Rep. Patrick Murphy discuss the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and Biden’s poor polling. 

Ex-CNN reporter Michelle Kosinski wrote in a Sunday social media post that she was surprised by how “normal” a group of “closeted” Trump supporters seemed at a dinner she attended, which she said continues to “haunt” her. 

“All were well-educated and successful in careers. They seemed great! On the surface. For like an hour. But slowly, over a few drinks, they began to let slip their true MAGA natures,” Kosinski wrote. 

Kosinski, a former correspondent for both CNN and NBC News, wrote that one couple in the group wouldn’t allow their kids to apply to Ivy League universities, but were “weird” about explaining their reasoning. Others used air-quotes while talking about climate change. 

Journalist Michelle Kosinski attends the 2018 White House Correspondents’ Dinner at Washington Hilton on April 28, 2018, in Washington, D.C.  (Paul Morigi/WireImage)

“The others– when they realized that a few in their presence came armed with (gasp) actual facts (NO!)– quickly changed the subject and nervously said they don’t want to talk politics. They realized they would be eviscerated on all idiotic points, especially on the economy,” Kosinski said. 

Kosinski said it was funny how “extremist” or “wrong” beliefs can leak out from those who you least expect, but warned, “they are out there.”

“This dinner continues to haunt me. They all seemed so… normal. When I asked the couple who were my old friends how THEY didn’t know, they said that in their upscale FL neighborhood, people are extremely careful not to ever broach or debate the subject. This is not healthy,” Kosinski continued in her thread. 

“If people don’t ever talk about these things as friends and neighbors, and only live in their own warped information silos, how will they ever learn what is true or false? How will the truth ever make them consider alternatives? The allure of bulls— is co-opting decent minds,” Kosinski wrote.

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a Republican National Committee donor retreat, on May 4, 2024, in Palm Beach, Florida. (Donald Trump 2024 campaign)

Some critics mocked the anecdote, including Mark Hemingway of Real Clear Investigations, who noted mortgage rates have tripled in the last three years. 

“It is truly amazing how at a time when mortgage rates have close to tripled in three years, overall consumer prices are up 20 percent (25 for food), and Russia’s at war in Eastern Europe and the entire Middle East is a powder keg — the response is ‘MAGAts don’t know facts!'” Hemingway said. 

Hanna Panreck is an associate editor at Fox News.