CNN host Jake Tapper took President Donald Trump to the woodshed and used his own words against him Friday on Twitter, accusing Trump of being a hypocrite for trying to blame the Chinese government for creating the novel coronavirus even though just a few weeks ago the president was praising China for its efforts to combat the disease.
The dust-up between Trump and Tapper began when the president accused NBC News and CNN of being “Chinese puppets” in a tweet he posted:
Concast (@NBCNews) and Fake News @CNN are going out of their way to say GREAT things about China. They are Chinese puppets who want to do business there. They use USA airwaves to help China. The Enemy of the People!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 1, 2020
As HuffPost notes, Tapper wasted no time reminding Trump of his own laudatory remarks when it came to China:
“Tapper then took ‘a little trip’ through what Trump had said about the Chinese government during the earlier stages of the outbreak, when the president repeatedly downplayed the risk of the virus and reportedly failed to act on multiple warnings about how it could spread worldwide.
“Trump has since taken a sterner tone with China, however, in an effort to divert attention away from his own administration’s failures in tackling the crisis.”
What followed was a series of tweets that rubbed Trump’s nose in his past remarks:
The Chinese government has been deceptive from the beginning of the crisis, whitewashing and lying and covering up.
Let’s take a little trip through what the president has been saying about the Chinese government, shall we?
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) May 1, 2020
The Chinese government has been deceptive from the beginning of the crisis, whitewashing and lying and covering up.
Let’s take a little trip through what the president has been saying about the Chinese government, shall we?
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) May 1, 2020
3/ On Feb 7, early in the morning, the president tweeted that Xi “is strong, sharp and powerfully focused on leading the counterattack on the Coronavirus.”https://t.co/AUzzGtehDV
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) May 1, 2020
4/ “…he will be successful, especially as the weather starts to warm & the virus hopefully becomes weaker, and then gone. Great discipline is taking place in China, as President Xi strongly leads what will be a very successful operation.”https://t.co/onI1w3Vvs3
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) May 1, 2020
5/ That same day the president said the Chinese government was “doing a very professional job…. I think they’re doing a very good job” fighting the virus.https://t.co/qX9h8eD6eh
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) May 1, 2020
6/ And the president told a crowd in North Carolina that President Xi had “handled it (the pandemic) really well”https://t.co/fKv9aPGpKE
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) May 1, 2020
7/ On Feb 10, the president told Fox Business that China is very ‘professionally run in the sense that they have everything under control…You know in April, supposedly, it dies with the hotter weather…China I can tell you is working very hard.”https://t.co/hsT9VE3vLl
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) May 1, 2020
8/Ad infinitum
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) May 1, 2020
Game, set, and match, Jake Tapper.
Featured Image Via YouTube Screenshot
