When questioned about networks not airing some of his speeches, Donald Trump didn’t hold back his criticism of CNN and what he referred to as “Fake Tapper.”
During an interview with Fox News’ Howard Kurtz on MediaBuzz, Trump expressed incredulity at networks cutting away from his speeches. He emphasized the discrepancy between the extensive coverage of candidates during the campaign and the lack of coverage when the candidate, in this case, himself, won in a landslide.
Trump recalled the incident, mentioning that it was “Fake Tapper” or someone similar who decided to cut off the coverage. He singled out CNN, particularly Jake Tapper, whom he admitted to having known and even somewhat liked in the past. However, Trump criticized Tapper’s decision, stating that it not only damaged Tapper’s reputation but also hurt CNN’s ratings, which he described as “so bad.”
Howard Kurtz chimed in, suggesting that networks could express their criticism after the speech rather than censoring it altogether.
“But when you’re using public airwaves and you don’t have — you cover a candidate for months, you cover him as a negatively as possible — or her, could be her — and then, all of a sudden that candidate wins in a landslide and it’s very exciting and everybody wants to watch, and you don’t cover his speech! And, it’s incredible,” Trump repeated. He continued:
I guess it was “Fake Tapper” or somebody turned it off, he said, “Turn it off.” I think, actually, MSNBC did do it — “MSDNC” — but they did do it. But I think it was CNN that didn’t cover it. Jake Tapper, who I used to know and actually sort of liked him, actually, but he hurts himself very badly when he does a thing like that. And he hurts the ratings, too. You look at CNN ratings, they’re so bad. So, you cover, though — I mean, think of it — you’re covering someone for a year, and this is the culmination, this is the big moment, and people want to watch it, and you say, “I’m not going to put his speech on.” How can you do that?
To this, Trump agreed, acknowledging that criticism afterward was fair game.
