CNN’s Jake Tapper revealed his response to President Joe Biden’s first and only debate against GOP presidential contender Donald Trump: “Holy smokes.”
“It was something to behold,” Tapper, who moderated the June 27 debate, told Seth Meyers. The CNN anchor explained his visceral reaction that night during an appearance on “Late Night with Seth Meyers.”
“We had these little iPads in front, so we could communicate with the control room. And yeah, within the first few moments I wrote, ‘Holy smokes,’” Tapper shared. As Meyers threw him a wry look following Tapper’s clean language, the journalist replied, “I didn’t know who was going to be back in the control room. I had to keep it clean.”
But as far as his shock, Tapper didn’t think he was alone in feeling that way: “That was kind of the national reaction.”
As Tapper said, many Americans — including Biden’s own political party — were taken aback by his performance. After a series of attacks against Biden’s age, some public flubs and concerns from Americans about Biden’s mental capability, the president ended up stepping down from the 2024 presidential race, passing the baton to Kamala Harris to cross the finish line.
Meyers and Tapper moved on to discuss how Trump and Harris are currently doing in the polls, saying it’s a tight race that may remain within the margin of error up through Election Day.
“They’re both running campaigns as if they are 10 points ahead. They’re both kind of running cautious-ish campaigns. I mean, there’s still the ‘cats and dogs eating’ thing,” Tapper said, referring to the debunked claims that Haitian migrants are eating Ohioans’ domesticated pets.
“I guest I’m distinguishing between the campaign and the candidate. The campaign is relatively cautious. The candidate is, you know… he’s doing his thing,” the cable news journalist added of Trump.
Harris battled it out with Trump on Sept. 10, reinvigorating Democrats’ hopes to keep the party in the White House. Since then, Harris has challenged Trump to a second debate. However, so far, Trump has refused to step back up to the podium for another round — which Harris recently called “a pretty weak move.”
“I think it’s a disservice to the voters. I also think, it’s a pretty weak move,” Harris said at a rally in Chandler, Ariz. on Thursday. “But even if he will not debate, the contrast in this election is already clear. This election is about two very different visions… for our nation. One, his, focused on the past. The other, ours, focused on the future.”
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