The decision to appoint CNN host Jake Tapper as one of the moderators for the upcoming presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump has sparked controversy and skepticism — with critics pointing to Tapper’s history of overtly critical commentary on Trump, arguing that it is highly likely that Trump will end up having to debate the moderators as well as Biden.
It’s now confirmed that President Trump will be debating Jake Tapper, Dana Bash, and Joe Biden in the first debate.
— Catturd ™ (@catturd2) May 15, 2024
Scheduled for June 27 in Atlanta, Georgia, the debate is poised to be a critical juncture in the political landscape, but Tapper’s involvement has raised questions about the fairness and impartiality of the moderation process.
Tapper’s past statements and actions, including his directive to stop airing footage of Trump’s comments during a visit to a Cuban restaurant last June after his court appearance to enter a not guilty plea in special counsel Jack Smith’s classified documents case, have fueled concerns about his ability to maintain neutrality in his role as moderator.
“The folks in the control room: I don’t need to see any more of that. He’s trying to turn this into a spectacle, into a campaign ad. That’s enough of that. We’ve seen it already,” Tapper said while on the air.
This is the very fair and “unbiased” moderator for the first Presidential debate, Jake Tapper: pic.twitter.com/TOCtAFkivI
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) May 15, 2024
Trump responded to the comments on Truth Social, showing that the animosity between the two goes both ways, as he wrote: “Fake Tapper just demanded that his broadcast be closed down from Miami because there was far too much enthusiasm on the streets for ‘Trump.’ The good news is, he was the only one to do so, perhaps a good explanation as to why CNN’s ratings are so low!”
Moreover, Tapper’s commentary linking Trump to conservative media outlets and politicians during a diatribe in October 2020 has drawn attention. He suggested that Trump had run a negative and sleazy campaign, and criticized what he characterized as “charges so heinous” associated with supposedly conservative narratives like QAnon and Pizzagate.
While Tapper has occasionally acknowledged aspects of Trump’s positions, such as conceding that Trump was correct about Hunter Biden’s financial dealings with China, his overall coverage of the former president has been marked by skepticism and criticism.
“Trump was right. I mean, he did make a fortune from China, and Joe Biden was wrong,” Tapper admitted at the time. “I don’t know that he was lying about it. He might not have been told by Hunter. But this blind spot is a problem.”
With the presidential debate serving as a critical platform for political discourse, concerns about Tapper’s impartiality highlight the challenges of ensuring fairness and transparency in the electoral process amidst a backdrop of media scrutiny and bias.
