Sunday on CNN's State of the Union, host Jake Tapper grilled New York GOP Congresswoman Elise Stefanik on what he called genocidal remarks made by Donald Trump to Iran, attempting to equate them to the 'From The River To The Sea' chants which terrorized Jewish college students after October 7th.
Stefanik, author of Poison Ivies, a book about moral rot at our elite universities, who famously grilled college Presidents about anti-Semitism, and fresh off her appearance on CNN's The Situation Room, refused to be pushed around by Tapper, who spent the last 7 minutes of a nearly 16 minute interview on the same subject. He set it up this way.
TAPPER: You were praised by many in the Jewish community when you criticized the college presidents who refused to condemn students for chanting from the river to the sea, which many Jews interpret to be, and you agreed, you characterize as genocide a call for genocide to wipe out all the Jews in Israel from the river to the sea. So just to be clear, you believe that wiping out an entire civilization is genocidal, and nobody should make a call to do such a thing?
STEFANIK: Yes of course.
And they were off.
TAPPER: What did you think when President Trump threatened to obliterate the entire Iranian civilization?
STEFANIK: He was focusing on the Iranian regime And what did it do? It brought the Iranians to the table. It led to the cease fire. We know that President Trump has very strong statements when it comes to his tweets, but it has been targeted towards the Iranian terrorist regime.
TAPPER: He said the entire Iranian civilization will die.
STEFANIK: He was focused on the Iranian terrorist regime....And President Trump is correct to call out the Iranian terrorist regime, which has financed Hamas and Hezbollah.
Then came this outrageous comparison.
TAPPER: It's interesting that a 20-year-old college kid on a campus yelling 'from the river to the sea,' that's worthy of condemnation. But a president of the United States who actually has..
Tapper had just attempted to diminish what Jewish college students had gone through, and Stefanik wasn't going to have it.
STEFANIK: Jake, you don't think it's worthy of condemnation of students that are targeting Jewish students, that are physically assaulting them, that are spitting in their face, that are drawing swastikas on their doors. These Jews who have to hire security.
TAPPER: I don't need a lesson on what it's like to be a Jewish student.
Did Tapper ever suffer what Stefanik described in his years at Dartmouth? If he did, he should have specified. Stefanik and Tapper then accused each other of equivocating,
STEFANIK: I am not equivocating. I have been crystal clear in my condemnation.
TAPPER: When it comes to college kids, but when it comes to a President threatening to wipe out an entire civilization, I'm saying you're applying two different standards here.
STEFANIK: I've condemned genocide across the board.... President Trump didn't call for genocide Jake, you were putting those words in his mouth.
Then Tapper then appeared to be wrapping the interview, as he held up her book: "Okay, agree to disagree, the book is..."
But Stefanik wasn't ready to give in and say goodbye yet, taking another shot, "This is typical CNN." And she continued.
Tapper would then make a hard to believe claim about past guests on the show.
TAPPER: We have people who actually supported the strikes against Iran. Iranian Americans and Iranian advocates on the show all the time. And they all were horrified when President Trump called for a genocide of the Iranians to, quote unquote, wipe out your entire civilization.
These guests are on all the time? Who, when? He didn't say. Then Tapper again appeared to downplay what had taken place against Jewish students on campus.
TAPPER: I'm saying it's all bad. Calling for genocide, calling for wiping out civilizations. Whether it's some knucklehead on a college campus or Mahmoud Khalil or this person or that person or President Trump, all of it's bad. Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, thanks so much.
"Some knuckleheads" that were terrorizing Jewish students? Stefanik would not allow it to end on Tapper's terms.
STEFANIK: President Trump was not calling for genocide, shame on CNN for saying that.
TAPPER: I read the quote, thank you so much.
Tapper referenced Trump's quote 11 times in a 7 minute interview, referring to it as a call for genocide 3 times in an attempt to equate terrorist supporting thugs on college campus's to our President's war strategy. He revealed himself further by belittling the suffering of Jewish students, and badgered his more than capable guest. Yes, this is CNN.
