Jake Tapper’s mea culpa stings. On The Megyn Kelly Show, the CNN anchor admitted he was wrong to dismiss Lara Trump’s 2020 warnings about Joe Biden’s cognitive decline, as the New York Post reports. Conservative instincts, it seems, sniffed out the truth first.
Tapper’s apology stems from a heated 2020 CNN interview in which Lara Trump raised concerns about Biden’s mental sharpness, only to be accused of mocking his stutter. The exchange, now revisited in Tapper’s new book, Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, co-authored with Alex Thompson, exposes how Democratic Party insiders hid Biden’s condition to block a Trump comeback. Lara’s foresight was ignored, and Tapper abruptly ended the interview.
In 2020, Lara Trump remarked on Biden’s halting speech, saying, “Joe, can you get it out.” Tapper fired back, accusing her of insensitivity toward Biden’s stutter and claiming she had no standing to diagnose cognitive decline. She clarified she was unaware of Biden’s stutter, pointing instead to visible mental deterioration.
Fast forward to this year, Tapper says he called Lara Trump to apologize. “You were right,” he told her, admitting his research for the book revealed Biden’s severe acuity issues. The conversation, he claims, “went well,” with Lara reiterating she never mocked Biden’s stutter.
Lara Trump didn’t let the apology slide quietly. She posted on X, blasting Tapper for accusing her of mocking a disability and shutting down their 2020 interview when she raised Biden’s cognitive red flags. Conservatives on social media pounced, calling out CNN’s hypocrisy for downplaying Biden’s fitness until it suited their narrative.
Tapper’s book, based on interviews with over 200 Democratic Party insiders, paints a damning picture. Many admitted to shielding Biden’s condition, driven by fear of a second Trump term. Their loyalty to the party over truth, it seems, blinded them to reality.
Aides described “two Bidens” -- one occasionally competent, the other visibly impaired. Signs of deterioration began as early as 2015, after Beau Biden’s death, and worsened with Hunter Biden’s legal troubles. Yet, the progressive machine kept the facade intact.
By 2022, Biden’s lapses were glaring. At a White House event, he asked, “Where’s Jackie?” about Rep. Jackie Walorski, who had died in a car accident a month earlier. Tapper, interviewing Biden around that time, sidestepped the gaffe entirely.
Instead, Tapper’s Biden interview focused on safe topics like foreign policy and Ukraine. He later admitted to Kelly he didn’t press Biden on the Walorski incident or his mental sharpness. Softball questions, it appears, were the order of the day.
In 2020, Biden promised Tapper he’d release his medical records. That promise went unfulfilled, and Tapper didn’t push. Transparency, evidently, wasn’t a priority for either.
Kelly didn’t hold back, grilling Tapper for his silence. “You sat right across from him, and you asked none of that,” she said, pointing out he could’ve raised Biden’s age or the Walorski blunder. Tapper’s response? A weak, “That’s correct. I didn’t.”
Tapper now claims “tremendous humility” in reflecting on his coverage. “I wish I had covered the issues of age and acuity much more,” he said. Hindsight’s 20/20, but conservatives aren’t buying the remorse act.
Social media critics hammered Tapper and CNN for their selective outrage. Lara Trump’s 2020 concerns were dismissed as cruel, yet now Tapper’s book profits off the same narrative. The irony isn’t lost on MAGA supporters.
Democratic Party insiders, Tapper noted, rationalized their silence by believing in a need to block Trump. “They justified everything in their minds,” he said, adding they were “remarkably willing” to spill after the fact. Loyalty to the cause trumped integrity, and the public paid the price.
Lara Trump’s vindication underscores a broader truth: conservative warnings are often mocked until undeniable. Tapper’s apology, while a start, doesn’t erase the media’s role in burying Biden’s decline. Actions, as always, have consequences.
