Can the Right Just Get Over the Idea Jake Tapper Is an Honest Broker Now?

There has been this story on the right that CNN’s Jake Tapper is some kind of honest broker. Maybe he had some mild TDS because President Trump really went after CNN hard, but he’s still generally a fair guy.

In the last few months, I have watched him shout over Trump administration officials, giggle with Jill Biden, and lecture the president after his COVID-19 diagnosis. He also called the president’s children “spawn.”

His resounding silence on the revelations found on Hunter Biden’s laptop and his failure to apologize for his network’s coverage of the Russian collusion hoax are inexcusable. You may recall, he was on the team that broke the Steele dossier live on the air and disclosed the Trump Tower briefing. Still no admission from Tapper that he was duped by Russian disinformation. This is hardly responsible or ethical journalism.

Now, following his network’s decision to declare Joe Bide the 46th president, he had this to say to President Trump’s supporters:

I truly sympathize with those dealing with losing — it’s not easy — but at a certain point one has to think not only about what’s best for the nation (peaceful transfer of power) but how any future employers might see your character defined during adversity.

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) November 9, 2020

First of all, as someone who hired people for a living, candidates who take a rational approach to adversity, seeking information and resolution, make excellent employees. President Trump’s supporters saw some election irregularities. Vote tabulations stopped, but only in the most hotly contested states. Then wild swings occurred while those of us who had stayed up until the wee hours of the morning grabbed a nap.

These irregularities are going to get sorted out, just like the “hanging chads” got sorted out in 2000. It is amazing how much patience the corporate media had with that election challenge. It went on for nearly forty days, and there were virtually no complaints. The 2020 election is on day six. Tapper can just shut it for at least 31 days.

Trump supporters, the second-largest group of voters in modern politics, want to understand what we saw. After hearing about election software updates, poll watchers being denied access, and counts resuming when they had been called off, to name just a few, we have questions. Roughly 70 million of us are scratching our heads.

Especially since the election was not a landslide, which networks, including Tapper’s, assured us would happen. The outrageous misses in even late-breaking polls at the state level seemed clearly intended to suppress the president’s turnout. Joe Biden has also had the full force of the media, big tech, and Hollywood pushing his candidacy. President Trump had talk radio and rallies.

It still was not the predicted blowout on the top line, and Republicans made gains down-ballot across the nation. Just how many split ballots would that require? Trump supporters would like to know. What is a normal differential between the total votes in a presidential and Senate race in a presidential year? Because in some of the contested states, it was significant.

Further, one has to wonder why the corporate media, squishy Republicans, and Democrats are freaking out that Trump’s voters would like to review these irregularities. It would seem this would be in Joe Biden’s best interest if he wins. We have all just lived through four years of one party calling the duly-elected president illegitimate. Some still believe he colluded with Russia because networks, including Tapper’s, never corrected the record.

Transparency will assure that most Trump voters do not retain their suspicions, increasing Joe Biden’s legitimacy, should he prevail. In case Jake Tapper hasn’t noticed, the corporate media no longer maintains the gatekeeper status they once had. Their word is not good enough, and it goes beyond President Trump pointing it out. Much of the credit can be given to investigative journalists who broke Spygate and other stories the corporate media never covered.

Ultimately, Jake Tapper’s veiled threat that anyone who questions what we observed is somehow at risk in their future careers is just disgusting. Especially after we all watched the media meltdowns following Hillary Clinton’s loss in 2016 and the subsequent media gaslighting to delegitimize the president.

Jake needs to take a seat. The fair and impartial label he held onto for far too long with some on the right should also be a thing of the past.