Jake Tapper accepts neither spin nor bullsh*t. So, when Breitbart News fired a shot at him on Twitter, Tapper deftly sent his opponent running back to the dog house, so to speak. The battle began after Donald Trump’s exceedingly combative Thursday press conference. Tapper began to wade through the muck while describing the speech as “unhinged,” “wild,” and full of untruths.
Naturally, right-wing news site Breitbart criticized Tapper’s criticism of their guy. In a not-so-subtle tweeted headline on Friday, they tried to make Tapper look like a whiner by saying that he “bemoans” Trump’s speaking manner. Then Breitbart retweeted itself (of course) and added, “When you make Jake Tapper drop the “Russkies hacked the election” meme.”
When you make Jake Tapper drop the "Russkies hacked the election" meme. #4DChess https://t.co/7EG12f8CkT
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) February 17, 2017
Tapper is a busy fella, but he took the time to drop a simple and effective reply: “Such a good doggy. Now go get your treat from Bannon. Arf!”
Such a good doggy. Now go get your treat from Bannon. Arf!
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 17, 2017
This response to Tapper’s tweet says a lot.
https://twitter.com/eplerjc/status/832653222691102721
Tapper, of course, was referring to Breitbart’s unyielding allegiance to Steve Bannon, the Trump chief strategist who molded the site into an anti-Semitic haven and who has helped Trump carry out a nationalist vision. Tapper’s tweet didn’t dive into the ditch with his own detractors, for he kept it light and, of course, terribly funny.
Just as a brief recap, Tapper followed up Trump’s presser by condemning the president’s continued “fake news” attacks. Here’s an excerpt:
“That’s a President focused on his bad press. It was unhinged, it was wild and I can’t believe that there are Republicans on Capitol Hill and in the White House who don’t understand that might play well with the 44% of the population that voted for the President, but a lot of Americans are going to watch that press conference and think ‘That guy isn’t focused on me.’ I don’t know even what he’s focused on.”
As Tapper assessed, Trump railed at the media for 75 minutes like his pride was most important issue in America, which doesn’t address the country’s true needs and could alienate voters in the long run. Of course, people have short memories, and Trump handed out a rather smiley speech at a Boeing facility in South Carolina on Friday. He was back in gregarious performer mode, but it’s anyone’s guess how he’ll behave next week.