Jake Tapper Says More Willing To Burn Bridges In Trump Era
Image by CNN
Jake Tapper has never been afraid of a tough interview. But the CNN politics anchor says that since the election he’s gone one step further, developing the spine to ask hard questions even if it means a guest won’t come back on his program.
“One of the things that I have found myself more willing to do is have an interview and bear down enough that it’s possible that person won’t ever come back,” he told the Hollywood Reporter, in a rountable with other news hosts, including CBS’s Gayle King and ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. “It’s an ugly reality of what we do. Even though you want to challenge them, you don’t want to piss them off so they boycott you for years or forever.”
He cited as an example an interview he did with Vice President-elect Mike Pence during the transition period. Tapper pressed Pence hard over Michael Flynn Jr., the ex-national security adviser’s son whose tweets endorsed the Pizzagate conspiracy theory. Pence has not returned to Tapper’s show on CNN since.
Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
