Geraldo Rivera surprised a lot of people during the 2024 election when he shunned Donald Trump and endorsed his Democratic rival Kamala Harris. But it turns out that she was emptier than Al Capone’s vault.
The veteran journalist, once one of Donald Trump’s most vocal media critics, has left that persona behind. He recently stunned viewers when he delivered a gushing endorsement of the president’s diplomatic efforts during an appearance on NewsNation.
“I again am so proud of President Trump for making this effort,” Rivera declared, referring to Trump’s push to apply pressure on Russia to enter peace talks to end its war with Ukraine. “I really believe that he’s trying and that the world will see that Russia, in some ways, is a paper tiger.”
For those who remember Rivera’s biting critiques of Trump — including calling him a “sore loser who cannot be trusted to honor the Constitution” after January 6 — the praise came as a whiplash moment. Yet Rivera doubled down, pointing to hard numbers and global realities that he said underscored Trump’s strength.
“One hundred and thirty million Russians, 450 million Europeans, 330 million Americans, I think the math is on our side,” he added. “Russia is not what Russia was when it was the Soviet Union, and we have to stop thinking of Putin as being this boogie man, larger than life, that can keep us up at night.”
The timing was notable. Just hours before Rivera’s comments, a new InsiderAdvantage poll showed Trump’s approval rating at 54 percent following last week’s summit in Alaska, where he met with Vladimir Putin.
According to the poll, only 44 percent disapproved. Pollster Matt Towery noted, “Donald Trump now has an advantage among every age group other than the most senior of voters.” He added that Trump “has improved his numbers among African-Americans and Hispanic-Latinos. White voters are at a near record 64 percent.”
Given those numbers, Rivera’s sudden enthusiasm for Trump has raised eyebrows. His critics wasted no time suggesting that the shift might be less about principle and more about reading the room. As one commentator put it: if Trump’s numbers are climbing, Geraldo may want to be on the winning team again.
That theory isn’t far-fetched, given Rivera’s long and complicated history with Trump. The two first crossed paths in 1970s New York, when Trump was still just another ambitious developer and Rivera was a rising media star.
Over the decades, they became friendly — Rivera has said, “He was the first rich guy I ever knew” — and during Trump’s first term, the journalist often defended him against what he believed was unfair coverage. Rivera even admitted that he “was very generous, very gracious, inviting me to the White House, giving me access interviews.”
But everything changed after the 2020 election and January 6th. Rivera publicly broke with Trump, calling for his impeachment and later endorsing Kamala Harris for president. In September 2022, he went further, blaming Trump for undermining trust in American elections. Just before the 2024 vote, he said, “… I am voting for Kamala Harris to be our 47th President.”
Just a few years ago, Rivera accused Trump of trying to “strong-arm” the Constitution. Now, he’s applauding him as a leader bringing Russia to its knees. The contrast has not been lost on social media, where Rivera’s critics accuse him of opportunism.
But to others, the pivot is less betrayal than recognition of Trump’s enduring influence — and the fact that he could once again be shaping U.S. foreign policy from the Oval Office.