It’s definitely a milestone when Andy Borowitz singles you out for well earned ridicule in his daily newsletter. Jake Tapper’s mask is off now and if you had any doubt that he is a Trump fluffer, when you see the video below with him declaiming “Right wing media was right all along,” you will be disabused of any notion that the man is a journalist. He is a high paid fluffer, plain and simple. He’s like the Inspector Reynaud character in Casablanca, his loyalities go whichever way the cultural wind is blowing. The fact that CNN allowed — allowed, hell, demanded of — Tapper’s associates on CNN that they pimp Tapper’s book nonstop tells you everything about that network that you need to know. First, however, let’s enjoy Borowitz’ barbs.
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—A man’s decision to spend months writing a book about the wrong president is a worrisome sign of cognitive slippage, brain health experts warned on Tuesday.
Devoting a 352-page book to unmasking a president who is no longer in office instead of the one currently sowing global chaos indicates serious mental impairment, the experts asserted.
Making matters worse, an inner circle of the man’s co-workers have been enthusiastically touting his book on television in a coordinated effort to conceal his cognitive decline.
“It’s sad that no one around him seems willing to tell him he’s slipping,” one cognitive specialist said. “Every day it becomes clearer that he’s no longer up to his job.”
That’s choice. And here’s the prima facie evidence of how well deserved Borowitz’ derision is.
What a whore. What happens when Trump sets fire to the physical Declaration Of Independence and imposes his Trump Declaration Of Subservience, which I frankly believe he’s crazy enough to do. What will Tapper, with his $7M per year paycheck do or say? Based on this display, he’ll happily declare that it’s always good to see government moving forward and autocracy should be a breath of fresh air after democracy. I can hear it now, “Trump was right all along. He should be running things as an autocrat and why bother with this confusing and chaotic separation of powers business? A single voice dictating everything is so much simpler.” And so it is, no argument there. Fascism is infinitely less complex than democracy.
Tapper has face planted bigly. He has done the same cultural self embarrassment that Kristi Noem did when bragging about shooting the puppy in the head. Both became social pariahs by their own hand. And what do they have in common? Tone deafness, to begin with. But tone deafness is not the end all. Lack of character is.
It’s unfortunate that we have such a polarizing figure as Donald Trump in our politics. And Tapper and his Axios colleague, Alex Thompson, can take potshots at Joe Biden all day and night. But Biden’s record stands, not only in terms of his achievements, but in terms of how he bent over backwards to unify people, particularly when the election was lost.
Biden took heat from a great many Democrats for welcoming Trump into the Oval Office, “Welcome back.” I get the rancor and the rage. I felt it too, believe me. But despite that, I respected Biden for his choice to take the high road and help Trump, just as Barack Obama had done. I’m sure they both hate Trump as much as anybody. But Obama and Biden had enough character to still do the right thing and stick by their principles.
Tapper has no principles that I can see, other than the acquisition of money. And he’s happy to roll over when the cultural winds begin to blow towards Vichy, or in this case, towards MAGA. So Tapper thinks. Tapper and Thompson’s hit piece is boomeranging on them for the same reason that Noem’s puppy/goat execution did, because it’s tone deaf, cruel, and offensive to the culture as a whole. Neither Tapper nor Thompson were motivated by journalistic principles, they were motivated by naked greed and it shows.
We are in Act IV of this mad reality TV tragi/comedy that we’ve all been living in since 2015 and we don’t know where it’s going — except to destruction. How do we know that? Because when you have a klown kar like the Trump cabinet, the Trump Justice Department, the Trump FBI, etc., chaos and destruction are assured. It’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when something explodes.
If Tapper truly self flagellates, as he claims, he hasn’t even yet begun. I don’t see him rebuilding from this situation. This is more than just a faux pas or a black eye. The man has revealed himself to be an empty suit, like so many that we’ve seen the past 10 years our country has been going through this trial of fire. That is one silver lining to the Trump Era, we’re seeing who is who and what is what in our public life. Jim Acosta has character and he has demonstrated that. Jake Tapper has done the same thing, although inadvertantly.
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Zoomers, if you’re able to contribute in any way, we could use help. I’ve been ill and recuperating from a brief hospitalization. Times are tough for political commentary to begin with, and that’s been the case since November 5. Half the country is in a major depression. But we need to keep on keeping on. This too shall pass and there will be a brighter, post-Trump day if we work for it. Please join us and help if you can. Thank you. Ursula
Maybe the pushback has a point. I certainly disagree with the notion that there was a conspiracy to hide Joe Biden’s mental acuity. First off, I think the debate debacle was mostly the fault of Biden doing his _actual_ appointed job (which Trump has rarely done, ever), and therefore being far too tired, and it seemed also recovering from a cold.
Perhaps his entourage covered too much for him. This honor and shame sort of thing with some Chinese and maybe Irish too, where they hide frailties and/or flubs, has clear consequences with covid and possibly the 2024 election, respectively.
I don’t know what to make of it, I just think the failure of the 2024 election is a tragedy that we will suffer for many years, whatever the reason.
I completely agree with you on both issues, no, there was NOT a cover up in the White House. Joe was working too hard and he had jet lag and a cold. All this stress will catch up to even a younger person. At Joe’s age, he had too many factors and the timing was just awful. So it was a disastrous night.
As to the second issue, the loss of the 2024 election, that is a tragedy. That is the worst tragedy in American politics in my lifetime and I was born on the last day of Harry Truman’s administration.
in the previous post: appointed -> “duly elected”
Also, we are not brisk to assume “cognitive decline” every time the people we have come to know and respect do things that show they are frail and human. That’s especially true when we see someone every day, like a spouse. They may do some strange things, but we also know the person has a will to and it’s not always easy to understand. Eventually, it becomes clear that there really is a problem, so maybe we do need to learn to keep our eyes a little more open, but really, it is very hard to decide when someone is unfit to make his/her own decisions. Biden might have needed to be in a wheelchair, but when it came to making decisions, it seemed like he (and his administration) were doing what was good for America, unlike the situation now.
Agree. Tapper is a grifter. He’s acting in very poor taste, especially since the announcement of Biden’s stage four (not stage “nine” as Trump recalls it) cancer. Tapper won’t recover from this. I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets canned at CNN. Then he can write a conspiracy theory book about that.
As to the other guy, Alex Thompson, I’m not familiar with him. But I have respected Axios up until now.
Somewhere along the line in my 75 years, I remember learning that when someone keeps looking to the right, it means they’re lying. It was long ago so I can’t cite a source but, anecdotally, I’ve found that to be reliably true.
I’ve heard the opposite as well, that if you cast your eyes downward and look to the left, it means that you’re lying or guilty.
Wayne, too, too true: “Eventually, it becomes clear that there really is a problem, so maybe we do need to learn to keep our eyes a little more open, but really, it is very hard to decide when someone is unfit to make his/her own decisions. ” In this case, the whole world sees (that certain) someone every day and many see the decline. However, the family won’t act and others who might have the power (25th Amendment) are too cowed and/or beholden to take action. And so the US, its democratic Constitution and economy circles the drain
A nation of deluded cowards have pissed on every hero’s grave that gave us our Republic. He’s just one more.