Trump remembers CNN founder Ted Turner as friend, not 'woke'

Brian Niemietz, New York Daily News on May 6, 2026

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President Donald Trump remembered Ted Turner as “one of the greats of all time” in a social media post selectively remembering the broadcasting giant who died Wednesday after battling Lewy body dementia.

“He founded CNN, sold it, and was personally devastated by the Deal because the new ownership took CNN, his ‘baby,’ and destroyed it,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post shared by the White House’s X account. “It became woke, and everything that he is not all about.”

Turner started the cable news network Trump frequently criticizes in 1980. He sold it to Time Warner Inc. for $7.35 billion in 1996. Turner committed $1 billion to United Nations charities shortly after closing that deal.

His ambitious philanthropic pursuits included founding the Turner Foundation, which champions environmentalism. He once said “if I had to live my life over, there are things I would do differently, but the one thing I would not change is my charitable giving.”

Turner’s personal relationships included a 10-year marriage to actor and liberal activist Jane Fonda that ended in 2001. When Hillary Clinton ran against Trump in the 2016 presidential race, she did so with an endorsement from Turner. He also expressed support for President Barack Obama.

The Ohio native praised Time Warner’s operations in a 2013 interview, but said that company’s merger with AOL made it “toxic.”

Paramount Skydance, whose operators enjoy a favorable relationship with the Trump administration, completed a deal to acquire CNN and its parent company in April.

“Maybe the new buyers, wonderful people, will be able to bring it back to its former credibility and glory,” the President wrote in his eulogy to Turner. “Regardless, however, one of the Greats of Broadcast History, and a friend of mine. Whenever I needed him, he was there, always willing to fight for a good cause!”

Turner was 87.