CNN’s Jake Tapper called out Trump for using Putin as a character witness in the criminal cases against him.
Tapper opened CNN’s State Of The Union by saying, “Watch as the leading Republican candidate Donald Trump quote one of our nation’s foremost adversaries, Vladimir Putin, as a sort of character witness while on the stump in New Hampshire last night.”
Trump said, “Vladimir Putin, of Russia, said that Biden, and this is a quote, politically motivated persecution of his political rival is very good for Russia because it shows the rottenness of the American political system which could not pretend to teach others about democracy.”
Tapper continued, “One might think such a point need not be made but Vladimir Putin, a former K GB official with blood on his hands who regularly sides with American adversaries both rhetorically and with arms and who right now has at least two Americans, Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan unjustly detained. Vladimir Putin is not a credible source of information about American democracy, much less American jurisprudence. Vladimir Putin seeks to undermine the United States and its allies, whether in Europe or Asia or the Middle East. And yet despite despite this or maybe by now because of it, I can no longer tell, Mr. Trump stands poised to do very well in the Republican Iowa caucuses on January 15th in less than a month.
Video:
Jake Tapper calls out Trump for using Putin as a character witness, “The leading Republican candidate Donald Trump quote one of our nation’s foremost adversaries, Vladimir Putin, as a sort of character witness.” pic.twitter.com/YnMNoSIdih
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) December 17, 2023
Donald Trump is using Putin to vouch for his character and his voters are applauding. This is where the Republican Party is, and where that party wants to take the United States if Donald Trump returns to the White House.
Tapper was right to call this out. Putin is bad for America, and democracy doesn’t seem like something that must be said, but it clearly needs to be because so many other parts of the press insist on treating Trump like a normal candidate who is not a threat to democracy.
More journalists on national television need to be stating what they think might be obvious, because with so many others in the press normalizing and enabling Trump, what is obvious is getting buried under corporate lies for profit.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
