Jake Tapper made a porcine reference regarding the president while suppressing laughter over a media-induced story about Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff (D) setting “bait.”
(Video Credit: CNN)
Tuesday on CNN, the host of “The Lead” may just have been fanning the flames of a manufactured news cycle while simultaneously giving the audience a peek behind the curtain at corporate media’s role in driving narratives.
In the wake of President Donald Trump’s reaction to a suggestive remark by Ossoff about executive assistant Natalie Harp, Tapper chuckled about “sending cameras” to get the next take from the senator while the White House went “nuclear” before concluding that, in dirty fights with swine, “the pig likes it.”
“I mean, I think the White House really took the bait here,” said Tapper as he set up a clip. “I mean, I was trying to explain to a White House person that by going nuclear against reporters for bringing this up or whatever, like, all they were doing was guaranteeing the story. And now we’re sending cameras to Georgia to see what Jon Ossoff has to say.”
As was reported, CNN’s senior White House correspondent Kristen Holmes earned the ire of the president on Monday, following a question about North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un by seeking a reaction to Ossoff’s remarks that, rather than do his job, “draft-dodging crook president” wants to “build his ballroom and travel with Natalie to their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar.”
Appearing with Jen Psaki on MS NOW, the senator downplayed any sort of risqué meaning to his original statement and said, “I’ve heard this particular aide referred to as his security blanket. And I think we could say that about any number of the senior aides in the White House. They’re not telling him what he needs to hear. They’re telling him what he wants to hear. And the nation is at war. And we cannot afford that.”
Among the responses from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., White House director of communications Steven Cheung shared a clip of Ossoff’s speech with the caption, “Jon Jackoff has to be the biggest cuck loser in politics. Instead of denigrating hard working people serving their country, Jon should look deep into his soul and ask himself why he’s a miserable person who hates this country. It’s because he’s a radical, extremist Dumocrat.”
Jon Jackoff has to be the biggest cuck loser in politics. Instead of denigrating hard working people serving their country, Jon should look deep into his soul and ask himself why he’s a miserable person who hates this country. It’s because he’s a radical, extremist Dumocrat. https://t.co/rAUJofbdx0
— Steven Cheung (@StevenCheung47) August 17, 2026
Meanwhile, Tapper further commented on the story on social media, releasing a video about the “kerfuffle” with a reference to a claim made in Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan’s book, “Regime Change,” that Harp left personal letters to the president.
This included one that read in part, “you are all that matters to me.” The anchor proceeded to refer to Harp with the inside terminology of “body man” instead of an official title.
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Reacting to the senator’s comments, Jonah Goldberg told Tapper, “I think what Ossoff has to be careful of is that people have priced in for Trump the fact that he hurls insults, he plays low, he plays dirty in a way that they hold other politicians accountable to. Trump imitators tend to do badly, so it’s probably smart for him to try and not try to triple down on this.”
“He got the White House to take the bait … if you’re gonna get into an insult war with Trump, you’re gonna end up … you know, it’s like fighting with pigs, you get dirty too kind of thing,” he continued, prompting the anchor to suggest, “And the pig likes it.”
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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