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Not historically a CNN fan, US President Donald Trump suddenly decided to thank the network for reporting on last night’s Republican Convention – but the post stirred up a virtual bloodbath between his supporters and opponents.

Trump tweeted his appreciation earlier on Tuesday, saying the broadcaster’s coverage of the “the vast majority of the Republican Convention last night” was “really good for CNN while at the same time being good for our Country.”

“Thank you!” he wrote in the emotive tweet.

Very appreciative that @CNN covered the vast majority of the Republican Convention last night. That was really good for CNN, while at the same time being good for our Country. Thank you!

The comments section turned into an online battleground between those supporting the Republican cause and Trump’s nomination, and those fiercely opposing it. “CNN covers disasters quite well,”one critic wrote, while another labelled the convention a “clown show.”

Others disagreed, insisting CNN only did this because it failed to perform well while covering the DNC. Among its critics was Errol Webber, a Republican candidate for Senate, who wrote that “CNN wanted ratings. They know no one watched the DNC.”

Moderate voices, meanwhile, complained about the difficulties of getting unbiased, bipartisan news these days.

Seemed to be some bipartisan coverage on NBC’s today show as well. Reporting both sides without a one sided opinion is how the “news” should be. I hate having to watch multiple channels to put the puzzle to together.

Trump seems to have taken a short break from the years-long animosity between himself and CNN. He publicly accused the network of spreading a hostile narrative, with his campaign going as far as to sue it for “false and defamatory” coverage on a par with New York Times and Washington Post.

The US president and his team have never pulled their punches while taking CNN’s reporters to the task. Jim Acosta has earned the title of a “rude, terrible person” directly from Trump, while host Brian Stelter was once called“one of the most dishonest propagandists in the media” by the president’s lawyer.

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