Politico’s current Trump reporter covering the White House once admitted she cried when Donald Trump won in 2016 because she believed “horrible things were to come.” Cheyanne Daniels, who joined Politico in May after years as a “race and politics reporter” for The Hill, now reports on Trump’s presidency—raising concerns about media neutrality.
On Nov. 7, 2020, Daniels tweeted: “4 years ago, I cried when I realized Donald Trump had been elected, knowing horrible things were to come. Now, I’m in my apartment in D.C., hearing people cheering in the streets screaming that he has been defeated, and I’m crying once again. But for a very different reason.” Just a week later, she wrote that Trump supporters believed her “life as a Black woman doesn’t matter, that I shouldn’t exist, I threaten the purity of white power.”
Despite Politico’s promise to deliver “straightforward facts and clear-eyed analysis,” Daniels’s past comments paint a picture of open hostility toward Trump and his voters. She has labeled Trump “racist, homophobic, sexist, misogynistic” while praising Kamala Harris for boycotting a bipartisan event honoring the former president. She also referred to Trump supporters as “Magatts.”
Her coverage now includes reporting on everything from Trump’s approach to Ukraine to his domestic agenda. Yet questions remain about Politico’s decision to place someone with such a record of partisan statements on a beat that demands objectivity.
