CNN host Jake Tapper said it should be obvious to voters who to choose in November when it comes to living up to the ideals of decency and human empathy.
“Empathy and decency are, of course, not the only measures by which one makes a decision about an election,” Tapper said Sunday on State of the Union. “There’s policy and acuity, feelings of safety and security, a host of other factors, but it is pretty clear there’s a profound empathy and decency gap between President Trump and Joe Biden.”
Tapper laid out examples in which he said Trump and his camp were insensitive to people’s disabilities, including Biden’s childhood stutter. The host juxtaposed videos of Trump and his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, mocking Biden’s stutter, with video of 13-year-old Brayden Harrington, who also stutters, sending Biden a message at the Democratic National Convention last week.
“Roughly, 3 million Americans battle stutters,” Tapper said. “And whether or not you’re going to vote for Joe Biden, it’s empirically a positive thing his rise has given so many of our fellow Americans confidence and inspiration, as opposed to how President Trump talks about the neurological problem, if he can use it to attack Joe Biden.”
Tapper criticized Trump on his refusal to condemn conspiracy group QAnon despite them being recognized as a potential domestic terrorism risk by the FBI. The president, who noted he doesn’t know much about the QAnon movement, which subscribes to the belief that a group of powerful Hollywood and liberal sex traffickers are working to take down Trump, said last week he nevertheless appreciates QAnon adherents’ support.
Tapper also pointed to Trump’s approval of right-wing candidate Laura Loomer’s congressional primary victory in Florida last week as an example of his lack of a moral compass. Loomer is a self-described “Islamophobe” and has been banned by a number of social media platforms. After winning her primary, Twitter upheld its ban on Loomer, which it instated after she made several denigrating remarks about Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Muslim faith.
“You might think anyone, not to mention the president of the United States of America, would condemn someone like this,” Tapper said. “Instead, President Trump tweeted, ‘Great going, Laura. You have a great chance against the Pelosi puppet!’ Now, why would the president support an open bigot and conspiracy theorist? Perhaps for the same reason that this week he expressed supported those who subscribed to the deranged beliefs of the QAnon conspiracy theory that a cabal of Satan-worshipping, cannibalistic pedophiles run the government.”
