Watch: Striking Live Moment on CNBC Many Missed - Billionaire Admitted Media Tricked Him on Trump Completely - 'He's Fantastic'
Silicon Valley investor Chamath Palihapitiya sat on CNBC’s Squawk Box in mid-July and said, almost casually, that the press had misled him about President Trump for years.
“You’re 100 percent right on Trump. He’s fantastic,” he told co-host Joe Kernen. “Unbelievable person, very smart on top of it, open-minded… great president, so far.”
This is one of the most important moments ever aired on CNBC.
Billionaire investor Chamath Palihapitiya says the media lied to millions of Americans about President Trump, and that after going back to the original source material, he realized he had been completely misled about Trump’s character.
PALIHAPITIYA: “The reality is that most of us were lied to by the media about President Trump.”
“And if you just go back to the source material, you should take away two things.”
“One, he didn’t say half the things he said, and two, why did these other people just fabricate what they wanted to say so that they could essentially assassinate his character?”
“I think that that second thing is completely unacceptable in America, and there’s still been no repercussions, really.”
“I took the time to learn about it. I admitted where…you know, the way that I met him was, I admitted on the pod, which, you know, has millions of viewers.”
“And I said, I got it totally wrong because I went and I watched Charlottesville.”
“And, you know, the first person to call me? President Trump.”
“And I got to know him and I put the phone down, I called my wife, and I said, we got it TOTALLY, totally wrong. We were lied to.”
“And then I got to know him and he is fantastic!”
@chamath
— Overton (@overton_news) July 14, 2026
The clip has circulated again in recent days. It is not new, but the admission still lands because Palihapitiya once occupied the opposite side of the argument.
On the July 14 broadcast, he explained the shift in plain terms: “The reality is that most of us were lied to by the media about President Trump.”
He added that a closer examination revealed that Trump had not said half of what was attributed to him, and that others had fabricated material “so that they could essentially assassinate his character.”
Palihapitiya has said he first corrected the record on his own “All-In Podcast” after rewatching the Charlottesville remarks that the press had framed as a blanket defense of white nationalists.
August 15, 2017: Trump called neo-Nazis very fine people after Charlottesville.
Right? Wrong.
The media deceptively cut the context of his remarks where specifically said he was NOT referring to neo-Nazis.
Instead, he was referring to the people who oppose tearing down American states.
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) March 17, 2024
Yet another reminder that it’s more important than ever to think for oneself and think from first principles.
— Chamath Palihapitiya (@chamath) June 16, 2024
After that public admission, Trump called him.
Palihapitiya later recounted hanging up, phoning his wife, and telling her they had been wrong. “I got to know him, and he is fantastic,” he has repeated.
“I took the time to learn, I admitted on my podcast that I got it totally wrong,” says @chamath of changing his mind on @realDonaldTrump. https://t.co/f7VGdsz2Oo
— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) July 14, 2026
The moment is useful precisely because it shows how even a sophisticated operator with money, time, and access still accepted the dominant framing until he checked primary sources.
The strength of the media to mislead is exactly what conservatives have been warning about for years.
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One recent Media Research Center study found that network coverage of Trump was negative nine times out of 10 over the course of a measured period.
Earlier tracking showed Big Tech platforms censoring or suppressing Trump-related material hundreds of times while applying far lighter standards to Biden-era content.
The July segment may only run for a few minutes, but its impact is long-lasting.
When the media’s narrative is consistent enough to erode a well-informed viewer’s initial skepticism, the results can be powerful.
That power has real, measurable consequences for public judgment.
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