Trump Gushes Over Chuck Todd’s Backhanded Compliment
While Donald Trump frequently disparages the media generally as “fake news” and even “the enemy of the people,” there are only about a dozen journalists the president despises so much that he’s given them their very own insulting nickname. That exclusive list includes “George Slopadopolus,” “Maggot Hagerman,” “Fake Tapper,” and — until today — “Sleepy Eyes” Chuck Todd.
Todd was suddenly removed from the roster via this Truth Social proclamation on Tuesday morning. And all it took was a FDR comparison from the former NBC journalist that Trump mistook as a compliment:
As written, Todd’s observation that we haven’t “had anybody with this much impact on the Country since FDR,” doesn’t seem to warrant a “Wow, thank you Chuck.” You could say the same of Joseph McCarthy, O.J. Simpson, or COVID-19; Todd didn’t say Trump’s indisputably huge impact on the nation has been positive.
Todd’s full remarks in his interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network on Trump were even less flattering.
“I don’t think we’ve had anybody have this much impact on the country since FDR,” Todd said. “I mean, culturally in particular, certainly in how our politics is even conducted, in that sense. I think the question is, Does Trump have impact on policy for decades to come? But I think culturally in particular, certainly on our political identity, not since FDR have we had a president with — look, he wants to involve himself in everything. FDR involved himself in almost everything.”
Brody and Todd noted that Trump even inserts himself into issues like the name of the Washington Commanders and who should be the CEO of Intel, which would have outraged the GOP of yore.
“These are things that you and I know the previous Republican Party would have lost — how dare government tell business what to do!” Todd continued. “And yet there’s almost an acceptance. There’s no outcry. So that’s real change.”
NEW: Chuck Todd on President Trump: "I don't think we've had anybody have this much impact on the country since FDR." @chucktodd @realDonaldTrump @CBNNews pic.twitter.com/nns803nKUf
— David Brody (@DBrodyReports) August 11, 2025
So Todd was basically saying that Trump’s actual policies may not have much staying power. Yet the president has managed to affect every aspect of our culture because he won’t stop shooting his mouth off. Case in point: Trump heard his name and “FDR” in the same sentence and called off a longtime beef, not realizing that Todd was giving him a backhanded compliment.
I’m not pointing this out because I want Trump to continue berating Todd or any other journalist. It’s just interesting that for all Trump’s combativeness, it’s shockingly easy to flatter him into submission. And in that spirit, I’d like to say that despite the many, many not-so-nice things I’ve said about Trump over the years, I’ve always been struck by the fact that’s he’s put his name on a huge number of products and was elected president twice.