According to Mediate, in the wee hours of Friday night, former President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social platform to launch yet another attack on CNN anchor Jake Tapper. Trump’s animosity towards Tapper dates back to the intense scrutiny he faced from the journalist during the 2016 presidential campaign. However, the tension has escalated in recent times, particularly after Tapper cut away from a Trump photo op following his arrest and arraignment in Miami.
Using his typical moniker for the CNN anchor, Trump referred to Tapper as “Fake Tapper” in his late-night social media tirade. In a mock display of gratitude, he claimed that Tapper had finally admitted something. However, the article Trump linked to in his post actually mischaracterized Tapper’s recent remarks made in an interview on Kara Swisher’s podcast, “On with Kara Swisher.”
In the interview, Tapper described Trump as a “disrupter” and acknowledged that many media organizations, including CNN, were thrown off balance during the Trump years. He admitted that some tweaks were necessary in the media’s coverage. However, Tapper reaffirmed CNN’s commitment to journalism as its north star and emphasized that the network was not in the business of preaching to any specific audience, be it progressive or MAGA supporters. He asserted that CNN was a news company, not an entertainment company with a news division, and aimed to present unbiased and factual reporting.
Do I think CNN or some individuals at CNN or some moments in CNN’s history or during the Trump years, we were knocked off our equilibrium a little bit? Yes. Every media organization was to one degree or another. Did I think that we needed some sort of wholesale revision? No, I do not. Were there some tweaks that were necessary? Yes.
Our north star here at CNN has always been the journalism. Not preaching to the choir. We’re not an entertainment company with a news division, we are a news company, and we are not trying to preach to the progressive choir or the MAGA choir. We are our own unique being. And that is what I thought Chris’s mission was, and I agreed with that wholeheartedly. Do I think there were moments we got knocked off that? Yeah. But I think that we’re good now.
Despite Tapper’s measured and balanced statements, Trump twisted the narrative to fit his own agenda, claiming that the anchor had admitted Trump “beat the corporate media.” This misrepresentation of Tapper’s words is just another instance of Trump using his platform to attack media personalities who have been critical of him.
