Jake Tapper Rides Trump for Demanding CNN Say ‘JOB WELL DONE MR. PRESIDENT’: ‘Among Other Reasons—’

CNN anchor Jake Tapper kept riding President Donald Trump over his demand to be congratulated for a “JOB WELL DONE, MR. PRESIDENT,” punctuating an Iran commentary with a sharp jab.

Amid a frenetic social media weekend, Trump posted a bitter demand that outlets like CNN give him credit for the war in Iran, writing, “Why don’t they just say, at the right time, JOB WELL DONE, MR. PRESIDENT, and start to gain back their credibility???”

Tapper mocked Trump over that post in an appearance on The Late Show earlier this week, and he did so again as he wrapped up his table-setting commentary on Wednesday’s edition of CNN’s The Lead:

JAKE TAPPER: Iran says it has seized two non-U.S.-flagged cargo ships in the Strait of Hormuz just hours after President Trump extended the two week cease fire last night. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt today gave no timetable for how long this extension could last.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president’s offering them a little bit of flexibility because we want to see a unified proposal to the president’s very strong proposal and he’s made his red lines very clear. The president has not set a deadline himself. Ultimately he will dictate the timetable. Iran is in a very weak position and the cards are in President Trump’s hands right now. TAPPER: Whether that strategy will work of course remains to be seen.

One Iranian official leading negotiations says, quote, “Trump’s ceasefire extension means nothing. The losing side cannot dictate terms,” unquote. The White House press secretary today pointed out the internal divisions within the Iranian leadership that U.S. officials believe is behind the breakdown of communication between the U.S. team and the Iranian negotiators after sources say a broad list of deal terms from the U.S. went unanswered for days by the Iranians. The Iranian president did take to social media today to say that

Tehran wants to continue talks, but that the U.S. quote, “breach of commitments, blockade and threats,” unquote, are the obstacle to genuine negotiations. He also accused U.S. leaders of inconsistency with endless hypocritical rhetoric and contradiction between claims and actions. And it is true that President Trump’s rampant social media posts and sporadic phone interviews with news outlets are causing some confusion, at least among the American public, about his plans for this war. Now, it appears that may be part of what is interfering with his team’s efforts to communicate with the leaders of Iran.

As one source familiar with the talks told CNN, quote, “The Iranians didn’t appreciate POTUS negotiating through social media and making it appear as if they had signed off on issues they hadn’t yet agreed to, and ones that aren’t popular with their people back home,” unquote. Such as on Friday when President Trump touted, a deal coming in a day or two, in an interview with Axios and told CBS News that Iran had, quote, “agreed to everything, including the removal of its enriched uranium.” Followed by this moment at a speech in Arizona. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Most of the points are already negotiated and agreed to. You’ll be very happy. The USA will get all nuclear dust. You know what the nuclear dust is? That was that white, powdery substance created by our B2 bombers. (END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: The president also told Bloomberg News that Iran had agreed to a, quote, “unlimited” suspension of its nuclear program. Then on Monday, the president told Bloomberg News again that he was highly unlikely to extend the cease fire if there wasn’t a deal this week. You know, the ceasefire that he’s now extended.

And now, of course, U.S. officials and Iranian leadership are in a stalemate over whether peace talks will even happen, let alone what there is to hash out. The Strait of Hormuz remains a pressure point on both the United States and Iran, not to mention on the global economy and you at home and this ever so fragile ceasefire. More than two weeks later, it’s still an open question of it will hold and if it will work to bring the Iranians back to the table at all.

By the way, President Trump Friday asked why CNN and the New York Times aren’t saying to him, quote, “job well done, Mr. President,” unquote. Among other reasons is anything done here?

Watch above via CNN’s The Lead.

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