Jake Tapper believes in Jake Tapperism

The Lewinsky episode in the ‘90s explains how CNN’s anchor operates today.

Several CNN anchors have jumped or been pushed out because of their sharp reporting on Donald Trump’s corruption. Jake Tapper, on the other hand, has stayed around and benefited from CNN’s attempt to find a mythical middle ground in the battle between fascism and democracy.

Tapper has an ability to triangulate, to find positions that he thinks put him above the battle between left and right but in fact, give aid and comfort to the Republicans amassing autocratic power.

“Jake Tapper didn’t used to be like this. Seriously what happened?” wrote one poster on Bluesky.

“Jake Tapper has taken one of the weirdest turns in American journalism,” wrote another.

But it’s not that weird, and I’ll explain why. First, though, let’s examine the reasons Tapper inspires anger.

There’s his book with Alex Thompson, “Original Sin,” which the New York Times described as “a damning portrait of an enfeebled Biden protected by his inner circle.” I haven’t read the book, and I have no interest in defending Joe Biden’s decision to run again in 2024. But I do share a common criticism of the book: At a time when Trump is dismantling vital government services, soliciting bribes, and building a police state, it seems tone-deaf and perhaps not the best use of time and resources to focus on the former president who wasn’t a crook but may have tried to hang on too long. The book is a delight to the MAGA crowd.

Tapper criticizes Republicans, too, but he seems to especially relish chances to take shots at Democrats, whether it’s retweeting a slam against Democrats by right-wing commentator Jonah Goldberg or misquoting Palestinian-American Rep. Rashida Tlaib.

He also promotes himself as a supporter of the troops, unless it’s a gay veteran who was assassinated – Harvey Milk. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth took Milk’s name off of a Navy ship in a vindictive anti-LGBTQ move and renamed it for a man who was awarded the Medal of Honor in World War II, Oscar V. Peterson. Tapper retweeted Hegseth’s announcement with no recognition of the insult to Milk’s legacy but instead depicted it as a long overdue honor for Peterson. “It took a long time before the family got the memorial service and honor befitting his heroism,” Tapper posted. He either didn’t know or decided not to acknowledge that the Navy named a ship for Peterson in 1943, the year after he died in action.

Tapper’s acquiescence to CNN’s softness toward Trump is obvious. According to Oliver Darcy’s Status newsletter, Tapper was among the CNN journalists ordered before Trump’s second inauguration to avoid dwelling on the past, and indeed Tapper and the others did not use the terms “twice-impeached” or “convicted felon” even once on Inauguration Day.

But the most illustrative story about Tapper concerns something from his distant past. No, not when he was in his mid-20s and worked public relations for Hooters. (He told the Baltimore Sun in 1995: ”It's honest work, the girls keep their clothes on.”)

I’m talking about a few years after that when he exploited a date with Monica Lewinsky to make himself famous. Soon after the scandal broke over Lewinsky’s affair with President Bill Clinton, Tapper wrote for Washington City Paper about Lewinsky and the date.

“I have no desire to appear on Hard Copy or banter with MSNBCeebees, and, essentially, I feel bad for poor Monica and feel unclean adding my feeble barnacle to her ship of fame,” he wrote.

However, he admitted, “I want a piece of this story just like everybody else. … But perhaps even more, I also want to point out that behind this particular bimbo eruption sits a young woman who is not a bimbo, who is a fairly sensible sort …”

Read the story if you want. It’s a badly overwritten piece by an ambitious guy who obviously wants attention.

City Paper editor David Carr told the Philadelphia Inquirer why he published Tapper's Lewinsky story: “I did it because I want to sell papers. Jake did it because he wants to be famous. He is what he makes fun of.”

Tapper told the Inquirer: “I don't really have an agenda other than slapping the media in the face. But there’s no question, I’m not only in this to be a nice guy. I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the media attention.”

He even did an interview with MSNBC after writing that he had “no desire” to do so.

Responding to criticism that he wanted publicity after claiming he didn’t, Tapper told the Inquirer: “I guess I look hypocritical.” Then, seeking to spin it as his brave defense of a young woman, he added: “I’m risking hypocrisy for chivalry. I’ll make that trade.”

That’s Jake Tapper. Trying to have it both ways, then and now.

Tapper may have leaned toward criticism of Trump in the 2016 campaign season and his first term when there was a likelihood that Trump’s rampant dishonesty and hate speech would eventually wear poorly on the American public. But now it’s clear that Trump’s awfulness has an enthusiastic and lasting following, and we’re experiencing a dictatorship-in-process. So Tapper is leaning the other way. He’s being a windsock.

Don’t be surprised if he ends up on Fox.

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