Silke Jasso
On Wednesday night’s episode of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” CNN’s Jake Tapper talked to the host about the first few weeks of President Donald Trump’s time in the White House.
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Colbert got right to it and asked Tapper what the mood was like at CNN after President Trump expressed his deep dislike of the network in a series of public tweets and news conferences.
“I don’t think anybody cares,” Tapper responded to great applause.
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Tapper then explained that it isn’t exactly the job of a journalist to be liked, especially in contrast to someone like Colbert who, as a late-night host, needs to be liked.
“I’m not comparing the two, because they are quite different,” Tapper said of Trump and his predecessor. “But I don’t think President Obama was a particular fan of mine.”
Colbert and Tapper, who have known each other for many years, recalled to the audience how Tapper was the first person Colbert told about the creation of his old Comedy Central Show, “The Colbert Report.”
Tapper remembered his reaction: “You really think you can do that for half an hour?”
He then explained that while CNN’s coverage has certainly changed, the network has followed the lead of the president.
“Our coverage follows his lead. If he pivoted as he claimed he would, if he didn’t send out nasty tweets about Nordstrom or judges, if he didn’t do that sort of thing, then I would be delighted, frankly, to cover the policies more,” Tapper said. “There’s this whole other thing going on with his White House.”
