CNN's chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta suggested President Trump oftentimes purposefully acts mentally ill in an attempt to distract from the dysfunction of his presidency.

“I tell folks, I’m not a psychiatrist,” Acosta said Sunday on CNN’s Reliable Sources. “I will tell you my sense of it is … he’s more crazy like a fox.”

The reporter’s comments are a play on the term “dumb like a fox” which suggests a person is acting ignorant in an attempt to not be taken seriously and then gain leverage over others.

Acosta, who was appearing on the show to promote his new book on the media in the era of Trump, said former presidential adviser Steve Bannon explained to him that Trump is obsessed with controlling the national conversation surrounding his administration.

“What Trump tries to do is really control the narrative by saying sensational things that sound wild and nutty,” Acosta said. “And he does this because he knows it dominates the news cycle.”





Trump’s critics have pointed to several unorthodox comments, nicknames, and catchphrases the president uses as evidence that he is mentally unfit for office.

Attorney George Conway, husband to White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, regularly suggests Trump needs mental help.

“What’s astonishing is the media’s and the nation’s utter failure to confront the fact that we have a psychologically unwell and unfit president,” George Conway tweeted Sunday.

Trump has, on more than one occasion, referred to himself as “a very stable genius.”



What’s astonishing is the media’s and the nation’s utter failure to confront the fact that we have a psychologically unwell and unfit president. https://t.co/kC6V7QCIwD — George Conway (@gtconway3d) June 9, 2019



Acosta said in his book, Kellyanne Conway revealed to him that she regrets a misstep in the early days of the Trump presidency during which she attempted to give NBC journalist Chuck Todd “alternative facts” on an issue during a television interview.

Reliable Sources host Brian Stelter, another frequent Trump critic, asked Acosta if he has any regrets regarding how he has covered Trump.

“I wish at times that the press had been in a bit more solidarity with one another,” Acosta said.

Acosta had his press pass pulled late last year after he displayed what the White House alleged to be combative behavior. CNN sued and won Acosta’s access back, a decision he said will go down in First Amendment history.

“That was a very important First Amendment case,” Acosta said. “Had the Trump administration won that case, it would have sent shock waves through our industry.”