Acosta, 47, went public with his latest gripe with Trump on Twitter. According to the reporter, the president was playing his music too loud.
"Tonight the Trump campaign/[White House] turned up the music so loud the press risers were vibrating. Nearly impossible to do live TV," Acosta tweeted Thursday night during a Trump rally in Missoula, Montana. "I suppose the [White House] loves those kinds of shenanigans. But I wonder if it's a security concern for [the US Secret Service] or local law enforcement. They can't hear either."
— justin (@justincap_) October 19, 2018
What started with a little bit of light Twitter trolling quickly escalated. Justin Caporale, a former aide to first lady Melania Trump, replied to Acosta's tweet with a mocking message: "Dear Diary….."
Simple, yet direct, Caporale's tweet got about a third of the "likes" as Acosta's original and about 600 retweets to Acosta's 2,800. That was enough public support behind the jibe to evidently send Acosta into a rage.
— justin (@justincap_) October 19, 2018
"F**k you," CNN's chief Trump reporter, who has been in the news business for roughly a quarter of a century, told Caporale in a private message. The "direct message," or "DM" was made public by Caporale after he screenshotted Acosta's vulgarity and tweeted it out. With 3,275 retweets, Caporale's tweet has eclipsed Acosta's original complaint about loud music in terms of shares.
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) October 19, 2018
After Caporale tweeted that Acosta owes him an apology, the CNN correspondent came back to his senses, tweeting, "Hey buddy I thought you were an old friend from the campaign days. I'm so sorry. Hope I didn't offend you. Have a good night and take care."
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) October 11, 2018
Nonetheless, the damage was done. Some on Twitter have highlighted the correspondent's hypocrisy. Exactly one week prior to dropping F-bombs in Caporale's DMs, the newsman was finger wagging about Kanye West saying "motherf**ker" in "the Oval Office."