CNN host Jake Tapper accused Democratic officials of using Orwellian tactics to spin President Biden’s debate performance.
Tapper co-moderated last week’s presidential debate, which was widely seen as a disastrous night for Biden. Many Democrats and liberals in the media have called for the president to step down and be replaced with another nominee. As for the Democrats still defending Biden, Tapper argued they are disingenuously downplaying or ignoring signs of the president’s age-related decline.
Tapper noted in his opening monologue on Monday’s “The Lead” that “there is a pattern, discernible pattern, of Democratic officials seemingly trying to convince you, the public, to not believe what you saw and what you heard with your eyes and with your ears on Thursday night.”
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After playing a montage of Biden’s most criticized moments from the debate, Tapper said, “Democratic officials have tried to spin this in many ways. They said President Biden just had a cold. They said it was just one off night, akin to when President Obama in 2012 was rusty and seemed a little huffy.”
However, he continued, “behind the scenes, make no mistake, most Democratic officials witnessed the same shocking spectacle that you did, the difficulty that the presumptive Democratic nominee, the current President of the United States, had just articulating his basic thoughts during the 90 minutes of the debate.”
“The spinning is all very reminiscent of the George Orwell quote from the book 1984,” Tapper said, alluding to having used the quote regarding Trump 5 years ago, “It’s relevant again today. ‘The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.’”
He promised that wouldn’t happen on his show and said he’d be talking to those “more willing to speak freely, honestly, and candidly about the candidate than the people running the Biden campaign, the people close to President Biden. And frankly, most Democratic officials across the country.”
