Jake Tapper has denied being "of the left."
On Sunday's edition of CNN's State of the Union, host Tapper, in a loaded question, asked Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins: "How long do you anticipate this tariff chaos is going to be going on? 30 days, 60 days, 90 days?"
In response, Rollins wryly responded:
"We're now two days in, right? You've got two days of data. Everyone, especially on your side, on the left, is freaking out."
Snapped back Tapper: "I'm not on the left."
That earned a sardonic laugh [see screencap] and "thank you" from Rollins.
So, Tapper is "not on the left." Really? Let's go to his record.
But before doing so, we'll quote the late, great comedian Henny Youngman, who when asked how his wife was, replied, "compared to what?"
So we'll stipulate that Tapper, while leaning to port, does not list as decidedly to the left compared to some others in the liberal media. He's not another Jim—Acosta or Sciutto. Not to mention the likes of Nicolle Wallace or Joy Reid.
But back to Tapper's record. Before coming to CNN, Tapper was:
- Press secretary to Dem Congresswoman Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky.
- Spokesman for Handgun Control, subsequently named the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
- Senior writer at the Washington City Paper, a lefty alternative paper whose alums include leftists like Ta-Nehisi Coates.
- Washington correspondent for the leftist website Salon.
And yes, it's possible that Tapper and his wife are another unlikely duo, much like James Carville and Mary Matalin. But if Tapper is pro-life, how likely is it that he would have married a former Planned Parenthood official?
As for his tenure at CNN, just in recent times our Nicholas Fondacaro caught Tapper complaining about Elon Musk shining a spotlight on Muslim rape gangs in the UK, and denying Stephen Miller's assertion that the great majority of career federal employees are left wing. Miller had offered the example of USAID, where 98% of the workforce donated to Kamala Harris or another left-wing candidate.
CNN was also found liable for Tapper, in a report on The Lead With Jake Tapper, having defamed Zachary Young as a "black market" hustler who charged "exorbitant fees" for helping people leave Afghanistan. The jury awarded Young $5 million in damages and also found CNN liable for punitive damages, which the parties settled out of court.
In his deposition for that trial, Tapper laughably claimed, "I do not pay attention to ratings." Fox News subsequently uncovered multiple tweets by Tapper boasting of his shows' ratings. Oops.
Most recently, Tapper announced that next month, he and CNN analyst Alex Thompson will be releasing a book on the cover-up of Joe Biden's decline.
Okay. But it comes 10 months after Biden quit the race. While Biden was still in office and running for re-election, Tapper was part of the "cheap-fake" shaming brigade that allowed Biden to decline in office. In 2020, Lara Trump, in an appearance on Tapper's State of the Union, said that Biden was in obvious "cognitive decline." Tapper scolded her for supposedly mocking Biden's "stutter" and cut the segment short.
Bottom line: while Tapper is not among the worst offenders in the liberal media, Brooke Rollins had it right in calling him a member of the left.
Here's the transcript.
CNN
State of the Union
4/6/25
9:02 am EDTJAKE TAPPER: Let's talk about these tariffs now with somebody who has had to deal very closely with the tariffs and the fallout from the tariffs. The Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins joins us now. Secretary Rollins, welcome to State of the Union. Thanks so much for joining us.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell says that these tariffs could drive inflation back up and throttle growth. JP Morgan raised the likelihood of a recession by the end of this year from 40% to 60%. And take a listen to what Republican Senator Ted Cruz, a Trump ally from your home state of Texas, had to say.
TED CRUZ: If we're in a scenario 30 days from now, 60 days from now, 90 days from now, with massive American tariffs and massive tariffs on American goods in every other country on Earth, that is a terrible outcome. It's terrible for America. It will hurt jobs and hurt America.
TAPPER: So how long do you anticipate this tariff chaos is going to be going on? 30 days, 60 days, 90 days?
BROOKE ROLLINS: Well, first of all, Jake, thank you for having me. I think it's really important to realize that last Wednesday was when the president announced this new American order, the new American economic plan.
We're now two days in, right? You've got two days of data. Everyone, especially on your side, on the left, is freaking out.
TAPPER: I'm not on the left.
ROLLINS: But at the end of the day, listen, this whole concept -- [laughs--see screencap] all right, Jake, thank you.
This whole concept is about rebuilding an American economy around American goods, around American industry. We do already live under a tariff regime in this country, but it's the tariff regime of China, of Mexico, of Brazil, of Australia, of countries that: Mexico won't take our corn, Australia won't take our beef, the country of Honduras takes more pork than the entire European Union does, American pork, I should say.
So from our farming and ranching perspective, which is what I'm focused on, but happy to talk about anything, that it is has to, it is time for a change, and that's what this president evoked last Wednesday.
