Exclusive: Jake Tapper on the Israel-Hamas War, Elon Musk’s Destruction of Twitter, CNN and Trump

“We live in an unbelievably violent world,” Jake Tapper says, “and I don’t know that we are grappling with it effectively by hiding these facts as much as I think we are.”

CNN’s star anchor and chief Washington correspondent spoke with Mediaite’s Aidan McLaughlin and Diana Falzone for this week’s episode of The Interview podcast, giving extensive thoughts on the unfolding war between Israel and Hamas.

Tapper, who anchors The Lead, occupying a two-hour stretch of CNN weekday programming, as well as its flagship Sunday show State of the Union, has delivered powerful coverage of the violent conflict, a conflict he believes should be shown uncensored to viewers.

“I get all the concerns, but I just generally think we censor too much,” Tapper said. “And I understand why we do. But I think people would make more informed decisions if we shared more, whether it’s about violence in the United States or violence abroad.”

In the wide-ranging interview, Tapper also discussed his view on the debate around adding “context” to violence like the Hamas atrocities, how he plans to cover the Israeli response in Gaza, how Elon Musk has turned Twitter, now X, into a much “worse” social platform.

“The changes that Elon Musk has made, with all due respect, have made it a worse source of information,” Tapper said.

The CNN anchor discussed his reporting on John Kelly, Trump’s longest serving chief of staff who recently confirmed, in on-the-record comments to Tapper, that the former president disparaged American soldiers killed in combat.

Finally, Tapper gave his take on new leadership at CNN, where veteran news executive Mark Thompson took the reins as CEO this week. He expressed optimism that Thompson, who is credited with helping to turn around the New York Times, will be able to lead CNN into a less linear, more digital world.

In addition to CNN, Tapper is the author of six books, including his latest out in July, All The Demons Are Here, a thriller set in the 1970s.

See excerpts from the conversation below.

On the role of context when covering the violence between Israel and Hamas

There is a context to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. But I don’t think there’s any justification for killing babies and raping women. There are rules of war. And targeting civilian populations with war crimes are not part of that. Now, people can say, well, the Israelis do this or the Israelis do that. And I certainly ask tough questions of Israelis. I can point people to those interviews if they want, but that’s not the point. This isn’t a playground argument. This is a thousand Israelis, most of them civilians, being targeted and slaughtered and there’s no context that justifies that. There just isn’t.

I’m all for historical context in terms of coverage of a larger war. But I don’t think when bodies are still warm, in the most horrific act of violence against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, I think that stepping back at that moment, I think you run the risk of seeming as if you are trying to justify something that I am guessing nobody was actually trying to justify. All acts of violence against civilians need to be covered in a very, very sensitive way to the civilians. There’s always going to be time for context in terms of larger issues.

But like one of the things that is not helpful is to blame civilians for acts of their government. I mean, there was plenty of time weeks and months after 9/11 to talk about the United States and its role in the world. But that never justified anything that happened to the innocent people killed on 9/11. It might have been relevant in some geopolitical way for a discussion far, far down the road. It certainly was not something that anybody wanted to talk about on September 12th.

On whether Twitter is still a useful source of news

Tapper: No. No. The changes that Elon Musk has made, with all due respect, have made it a worse source of information. He has taken away the verification of credible news sources that are vetted. He has boosted unreliable sources of information, both through the purchase of blue checks and also by personally vouching for unreliable sources of information, some of whom are unrepentant bigots. One of the first things he did was boost a source that was openly anti-Semitic, that would call people ‘Jew’ in a pejorative way, in a tweet that he later un-tweeted but never said anything else about. We saw plenty of video from wars past, not even Middle East wars. I think there was some demolition of a building in China that was purported to be from Gaza. Look, news media is not perfect, period. But there is at least an attempt.

McLaughlin: There are checks and balances and accountability.

Tapper: Yes. Social media is even farther from perfect than news media. But the changes that have been made have made X far, far less reliable than it used to be. And that is a real shame. And look, I went into the Musk experiment with an open mind. I am not anti-Elon Musk as a knee-jerk position. I think he has done fascinating things with electric cars.

I think SpaceX is interesting. He’s not actually a free speech advocate, but I have a knee-jerk interest in free speech as an idea. I think executing it without it becoming a cesspool is a different thing. But I’ve been really disappointed because Twitter was much, much better two or three years ago. And I saw plenty of problems with the old regime. And I heard a lot of the complaints from conservatives and agreed with many of them. But it’s hard to look at it now and think it’s better. It’s not. It’s worse. And especially at times like this, there really just isn’t a social media platform to go to where you can find reliable information.

On whether he’s worried about the future of CNN’s international coverage amid the decline of cable news

I’m not because of two reasons. One, it is so much a part of our DNA and such a vital part of who we are. And Sir Mark Thompson, our new boss, comes from the BBC and is a newsman through and through and understands that we are this. This is such a vital part of who we are and we’re not going to survive to whatever we become in the next incarnation or in the new world by cutting all those bureaus, because that’s when we are our most vital at times like this, at times like the war in Ukraine.

And two, because of Sir Mark Thompson, because he is the guy to get us on to the next, as the plate tectonics are shifting, he is the person that knows how to do that. That is his jam. He got The New York Times from paper to digital without screwing the paper. Going to the paper people and saying, we’re not getting rid of you, we’ll do whatever we need to keep you thriving, don’t worry about that. But we need to also do this. And so the fact that he is in charge makes me think, okay, good. We have somebody who understands that.

If anyone’s going to figure it out it’s him.

On why John Kelly spoke out against Trump now

Well, I can only speculate. But my speculation would be that he was very reluctant to do so publicly because as a former general, he’s very reluctant to criticize a commander in chief publicly. And I would think that why he did it is because of the discussion about executing General Milley. That was just a last straw.

I had been trying to get him to go on the record for quite some time with his views, as had, I’m sure, lots of journalists. And I think maybe I just got him at the right time and he was just so upset because he not only saw what former President Trump said about Milley as beyond the pale, but he saw it as a call from Trump, as he makes clear in the statement, a call from Trump for one of his followers to act. To act on the call for an execution, for an assassination basically, that’s what he saw it as. So I think that was just so upsetting that he went on the record.

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