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Tapper Comments On His Coverage Decision
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Tapper Comments On His Coverage Decision

Jake Tapper wants you to know he's learned his lesson—but only after it stopped mattering.

During a recent appearance on Pod Save America, the longtime CNN anchor admitted what many critics had been shouting for years: the media, including himself, missed President Joe Biden’s cognitive and physical decline while it was happening. Tapper's confession comes conveniently timed with the release of his new book, in which he revisits the story he and the rest of the corporate press refused to touch until Biden was out of office. Now, with the benefit of hindsight—and the safety of no longer having to shield a sitting Democratic president—Tapper says, in effect: Whoops.


But don’t worry, he says. He won’t be fooled again.

Tapper is now turning his lens squarely on Donald Trump, focusing heavily on what he frames as Trump’s own physical missteps and “declining stamina.” Why? Because, in his words, he didn’t do enough the first time. The media “missed that story,” he admits, so now the correction is to amplify every stumble, yawn, and nap schedule of the 45th president.


There’s only one problem: no one’s fooled.

Back in November, former CNN host Brian Stelter lauded The New York Times for its data-driven analysis of Trump's stamina, highlighting that he held only 1,029 official events in 2024, compared to 1,688 in 2017. That’s right—holding fewer events is now being treated as clinical evidence of decline. In contrast, President Biden routinely appeared disoriented, confused, and unsteady in public, and for nearly three years, Tapper and his peers shrugged it off, if they acknowledged it at all.


Now, with Biden’s decline undeniable and the consequences of that media silence baked into policy and history, the same journalists who ignored the warning signs are suddenly embracing a "new standard"—but only for their political opponents.

So while Tapper promotes his mea culpa in book form, he’s already shifted gears to overcorrect—eager to make sure he doesn’t “miss the story” of Trump’s supposed decline. But that’s not journalism—it’s rebranding. The story wasn’t missed. It was buried.

Written by Arthur Higgens - December 16, 2025