When CNN is essentially seated in public reverence of the leading Republican challenger to the White House, you know that the outlook for an incumbent Democrat president is bleak.

To be clear, this is not some idealized version of CNN that once practiced actual journalism. This is the modern, extremely left-leaning, pro-Democratic 2023 version of CNN that has earned every letter of its disparaging moniker, “Clinton News Network.”

But even this shambling husk of CNN is aware that things are not looking good for fellow shambling husk President Joe Biden, particularly with former President Donald Trump nibbling at his heels in the 2024 presidential election.

In a Saturday analysis, CNN’s Harry Enten began the piece as one would expect from a left-leaning outlet: by vehemently reminding the reader of Trump’s awfulness.

“A plurality of Americans and independents think Donald Trump should have been charged with a crime in each of his four indictments, according to ABC News/Ipsos polling,” Enten wrote to begin his piece. “A majority of Americans said in a new AP-NORC survey that they definitely won’t vote for the former president in the 2024 general election.”

At this point, you can almost sense Enten’s rhetoric lose steam.

“Yet, Trump continues to hold a mammoth lead for the Republican presidential nomination and is polling within the margin of error of President Joe Biden in a hypothetical general election matchup,” Enten wrote.

He explained: “While paragraphs one and two seem contradictory, they’re really not. Americans don’t like Trump, but Republicans do. And general elections aren’t referendums on one candidate but a choice between two or more – and Americans, as a whole, dislike both Trump and Biden.”

Whether it’s due to Trump’s popularity, Biden’s unpopularity, or some combination of the two, it appears that the former president is closing the gap with the incumbent president with each new spurious and weaponized charge leveled against him.

Clearly, this is the exact antithesis of what the Democrats desired, and the exact opposite of what the establishment media anticipated.

Observe Enten’s tone as he surrenders to Trump’s popularity while speaking to CNN’s Jim Acosta on Saturday:

CNN's Harry Enten: "The polling indicates that Trump is, in fact, in a stronger position at this point than he was during the entire 2020 campaign…If we had state level polling, I wouldn’t even be surprised if Trump were ahead in the swing states that are most important." pic.twitter.com/fzTd3JYskv

— MAGA War Room (@MAGAIncWarRoom) August 20, 2023

“The polling indicates that Trump is, in fact, in a stronger position at this point than he was during the entire 2020 campaign,” Enten told Acosta.

Additionally, Enten wrote on CNN: “If anything, Trump’s position within his party has become stronger since the beginning of the year. A majority (54%) of Republicans have a strongly favorable opinion of him in Fox News polling released this week, which is up 11 points from the end of last year. No other Republican candidate for president reaches even half of Trump’s current percentage.”

It would be impossible to hurl a stone in CNN’s corporate facilities without striking an anti-Trump supporter.

As a result, it has been awe-inspiring to observe the network contend with the fact that Trump’s popularity is only growing as the United States approaches the general election of 2024.

Conservatives and Republicans cannot rest on their laurels, regardless of the schadenfreude one may derive from watching Biden’s establishment media allies bemoan on-air that Trump is going to give their president the fight of his life.

Note that Enten and CNN are concerned that Trump is competing with Biden in the polls. Nobody is concerned that Trump will dominate the general election.

Every vote will matter in the general election, which will be a bloodbath (the GOP primary appears to be nearly over, although it’s still far too early to tell for sure). Even though some polls indicate Trump prevailing by a landslide, this outcome is not imminent.

Therefore, please enjoy a short victory lap and chuckle as CNN grapples with the reality of Trump’s imminence.

But keep in mind that nothing has yet been decided, and Trump must still win an election.