CNN anchor Jake Tapper said on “Pod Save America” Monday that he frequently covers President Donald Trump’s missteps on his show because he failed to adequately scrutinize former President Joe Biden’s decline.
While promoting his May book examining Biden’s physical and mental decline, Tapper acknowledged shortcomings in his own coverage. “Pod Save America” host Tommy Vietor asked Tapper how well he felt the media was covering Trump supposedly sleeping in meetings or stumbling in public.
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“We cover it all the time on my show. All the time. And I think that is to a large degree because we saw what happened with Biden. And while we covered it, we didn’t cover it — maybe we didn’t ask as many questions as we should have at the time,” Tapper said. “And I think it is a legitimate question for any president of any age, but particularly anybody who is like in the range of being an octogenarian, right? We cover it all the time.”
Outlets such as CNN, The New York Times, MS NOW and ABC’s “The View” have all implied that Trump is in a state of decline amid his second term.
However, comedian Adam Carolla condemned corporate media outlets on “The Adam and Dr. Drew Show” on Wednesday over their attempts to frame Trump as diminished after its inadequate coverage of Biden’s decline.
“You lose credibility and you look foolish when you attempt to do things that are sort of transparent and seem like there’s an agenda … CNN, [MS NOW], whoever, ladies of ‘The View’ who are talking about Trump’s decline or cognitive abilities or whatever that is, you have lost all rights to comment on this subject considering you just covered with a guy who was severely impaired,” Carolla said. “You covered for him for a number of years and you said nothing … said the opposite.”
Carolla proposed that outlets like CNN and shows like “The View” should face a five-year probationary period barring them from covering presidents’ mental acuity due to their Biden coverage.
The NYT reported that as of Nov. 25, Trump had decreased his domestic travel and public schedule compared to his first term, but acknowledged his increase in foreign travel and numerous media appearances. The report, authored by White House reporter Katie Rogers and journalist Dylan Freedman, was titled, “Signs of Fatigue: Trump Faces Realities Of Aging in Office.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called out the NYT and Rogers during a Dec. 1 briefing over their reporting questioning Trump’s fitness after defending Biden’s health during his tenure.
“I will point out one fake news story … from The New York Times that took about one-third of the president’s daily calendar and his daily schedule and said that he’s doing less than he did in his first term or he might not be fit for the job,” Leavitt said. “That is unequivocally false and it’s deeply unfortunate that this story was written by the same outlet and the same reporter who wrote this. ‘Biden is doing 100 percent fine after tripping while boarding Air Force One.’”
The press secretary also asserted during the same briefing that a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in October found that Trump “remains in excellent overall health.”
Corporate media outlets spent years downplaying Biden’s deterioration prior to his disastrous June 2024 debate against Trump.
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