A lot of controversy is breaking out over the moderators in the presidential debate.
Attacking the moderators is a popular debate strategy, and in this particular case, it would be worth it to Trump to engage in such a strategy.
The moderators are Dana Bash and Jake Tapper, who are obviously and strongly oriented against Trump. Tapper clearly does not like Trump; he likens him to Adolf Hitler.
Last December, Tapper stated, “The dehumanizing rhetoric of Adolf Hitler is once again alive and well on a national political stage. This time, of course, in the United States.” That same month, he also said, “Trump, a couple of times over the weekend, referred to immigrants from South America, Africa, and Asia, he did not mention Europe, South America, Africa, and Asia as ‘poisoning the blood of our country,’ which if it’s not hyperbole, that does very directly echo Adolf Hitler’s language before World War II, before the Holocaust.”
Further, Tapper commented, “If you would open up a copy of Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf,’ you would find the Nazi leader describing the mixing of non-Germans with Germans as poisoning. … There’s really no other way to say it. Donald Trump’s language mirrors this directly.”
After the first presidential debate in 2020, Tapper and Bash had this exchange:
Tapper: That was a hot mess, inside a dumpster fire, inside a train wreck. That was the worst debate I have ever seen. In fact, it wasn’t even a debate. It was a disgrace. And it’s primarily because of President Trump, who spent the entire time interrupting, not abiding by the rules he agreed to, lying, maliciously attacking the son of the Vice President.
Dana Bash: You just took the words out of my mouth. You used some high-minded language. I’m just going to say it like it is: that was a s***show!
Tapper: The President does not think he’s going to win this election. And he wants to bring the rest of us down with him.
On Election Night 2020, Tapper stated, “For tens of millions of our fellow Americans, their long national nightmare is over.” After Biden’s 2024 State of the Union Speech, Bash crowed, “They wanted him to be a fighter, and, boy, a fight did he deliver.”
WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show
CNN’s Kasie Hunt interviewed Trump surrogate Karoline Leavitt, and they had a bit of a brawl because Leavitt pointed out these moderators are strongly oriented against Trump and Hunt got mad at this. Their exchange got a bit heated:
Leavitt: President Trump is knowingly going into a hostile environment on this very network, on CNN, with debate moderators who have made their opinions about him very well-known over the past eight years in their biased coverage of him. So, President Trump is willing to bring his message to every corner of this country, to voters, to ensure that he wins this election in November. He looks forward to doing that. And I know the American public look forward to hearing from him.
Hunt: So, I’ll just say, my colleagues, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, have acquitted themselves as professional as they have covered campaigns and interviewed candidates from all sides of the aisle. I’ll also say that if you talk to analysts of debates previous, that if you’re attacking the moderators, you’re usually losing. So, I really want to focus on what these two men are going to do and say when they stand on the stage.
Their conversation continued:
Leavitt: It would take someone five minutes to Google Jake Tapper Donald Trump to see that Jake Tapper has frequently likened President Trump to Adolf Hitler.
Hunt: If you are here to speak on his behalf, I’m willing to have this conversation.
Leavitt: I am stating facts that your colleagues have stated in the past. Now, as for this debate, the expectation for —
Hunt: I’m sorry, guys, we’re going to come back out to the panel. Karoline, thank you very much for your time. You are welcome to come back at any point. She is welcome to come back and speak about Donald Trump.
So why aren’t you allowed to talk about the moderators? The moderators are obviously an issue. They’ve been an issue in every presidential debate of my lifetime.
Speaking of Kasie Hunt, this is not somebody who doesn’t have a political dog in the fight here. A couple of years ago she mocked Rand Paul after he got pummeled by a neighbor, saying, “New details today on the incident that left Senator Rand Paul with six broken ribs. This might be one of my favorite stories… ”
But don’t worry. There’s no bias in the media.
CNN put out a statement saying, “Jake Tapper and Dana Bash are well-respected veteran journalists who have covered politics for more than five decades combined. They have extensive experience moderating major political debates, including CNN’s Republican presidential primary debate this cycle. There are no two people better equipped to co-moderate a substantial and fact-based discussion.”
Sure.
[#item_full_content]
[[{“value”:”
A lot of controversy is breaking out over the moderators in the presidential debate.
Attacking the moderators is a popular debate strategy, and in this particular case, it would be worth it to Trump to engage in such a strategy.
The moderators are Dana Bash and Jake Tapper, who are obviously and strongly oriented against Trump. Tapper clearly does not like Trump; he likens him to Adolf Hitler.
Last December, Tapper stated, “The dehumanizing rhetoric of Adolf Hitler is once again alive and well on a national political stage. This time, of course, in the United States.” That same month, he also said, “Trump, a couple of times over the weekend, referred to immigrants from South America, Africa, and Asia, he did not mention Europe, South America, Africa, and Asia as ‘poisoning the blood of our country,’ which if it’s not hyperbole, that does very directly echo Adolf Hitler’s language before World War II, before the Holocaust.”
Further, Tapper commented, “If you would open up a copy of Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf,’ you would find the Nazi leader describing the mixing of non-Germans with Germans as poisoning. … There’s really no other way to say it. Donald Trump’s language mirrors this directly.”
After the first presidential debate in 2020, Tapper and Bash had this exchange:
Tapper: That was a hot mess, inside a dumpster fire, inside a train wreck. That was the worst debate I have ever seen. In fact, it wasn’t even a debate. It was a disgrace. And it’s primarily because of President Trump, who spent the entire time interrupting, not abiding by the rules he agreed to, lying, maliciously attacking the son of the Vice President.
Dana Bash: You just took the words out of my mouth. You used some high-minded language. I’m just going to say it like it is: that was a s***show!
Tapper: The President does not think he’s going to win this election. And he wants to bring the rest of us down with him.
On Election Night 2020, Tapper stated, “For tens of millions of our fellow Americans, their long national nightmare is over.” After Biden’s 2024 State of the Union Speech, Bash crowed, “They wanted him to be a fighter, and, boy, a fight did he deliver.”
WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show
CNN’s Kasie Hunt interviewed Trump surrogate Karoline Leavitt, and they had a bit of a brawl because Leavitt pointed out these moderators are strongly oriented against Trump and Hunt got mad at this. Their exchange got a bit heated:
Leavitt: President Trump is knowingly going into a hostile environment on this very network, on CNN, with debate moderators who have made their opinions about him very well-known over the past eight years in their biased coverage of him. So, President Trump is willing to bring his message to every corner of this country, to voters, to ensure that he wins this election in November. He looks forward to doing that. And I know the American public look forward to hearing from him.
Hunt: So, I’ll just say, my colleagues, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, have acquitted themselves as professional as they have covered campaigns and interviewed candidates from all sides of the aisle. I’ll also say that if you talk to analysts of debates previous, that if you’re attacking the moderators, you’re usually losing. So, I really want to focus on what these two men are going to do and say when they stand on the stage.
Their conversation continued:
Leavitt: It would take someone five minutes to Google Jake Tapper Donald Trump to see that Jake Tapper has frequently likened President Trump to Adolf Hitler.
Hunt: If you are here to speak on his behalf, I’m willing to have this conversation.
Leavitt: I am stating facts that your colleagues have stated in the past. Now, as for this debate, the expectation for —
Hunt: I’m sorry, guys, we’re going to come back out to the panel. Karoline, thank you very much for your time. You are welcome to come back at any point. She is welcome to come back and speak about Donald Trump.
So why aren’t you allowed to talk about the moderators? The moderators are obviously an issue. They’ve been an issue in every presidential debate of my lifetime.
Speaking of Kasie Hunt, this is not somebody who doesn’t have a political dog in the fight here. A couple of years ago she mocked Rand Paul after he got pummeled by a neighbor, saying, “New details today on the incident that left Senator Rand Paul with six broken ribs. This might be one of my favorite stories… ”
But don’t worry. There’s no bias in the media.
CNN put out a statement saying, “Jake Tapper and Dana Bash are well-respected veteran journalists who have covered politics for more than five decades combined. They have extensive experience moderating major political debates, including CNN’s Republican presidential primary debate this cycle. There are no two people better equipped to co-moderate a substantial and fact-based discussion.”
Sure.
“}]]
