Jake Tapper, of CNN’s State of the Union, speaks to a crowd at the Harvard Institute of Politics. Image by Scott Eisen/Getty Images

By Nathan Guttman October 20, 2017

CNN’s Jake Tapper offered a “thought experiment” to try and analyze what went wrong in the political storm surrounding President Trump’s phone call to Myeshia Johnson, who had just lost her husband, Sgt. LaDavid T. Johnson, in an ambush in Niger.

“Let’s try to assume for the sake of argument that everyone in this story had the best and noblest of intentions,” Tapper opened a series of tweets Friday morning. Tapper’s starting point was the notion that all sides came with their best intentions: Trump wanted to console the grieving widow, his chief of staff John Kelly provided him advice based on his painful experience as a Gold Star father, and Rep. Frederica Wilson just wanted to convey the sorrow of the widow after receiving the call from Trump.

“At the end of all this we’re left with one uncomfortable Fact: the phone call went wrong & the family of SGT Johnson is in MORE pain,” Tapper concluded. “To me, beyond all the politics, that seems to me to be something the White House would want to fix.”

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

The White House has so far shown little interest in following Tapper’s advice. Kelly later defended Trump — and bitterly attacked Wilson.

Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected] or on Twitter @nathanguttman

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount