CNN’s Jake Tapper Dumps Out of Trump Victory Speech Just As He Starts To Rant About Immigrant ‘Invasion’

CNN anchor Jake Tapper dumped out of former President Donald Trump’s victory speech just as Trump began ranting about immigrants and gave a sober summation of Trump’s victory in Iowa.

Monday marked the first nominating contest in the Republican presidential primary, the influential (if not representative) Iowa caucuses. The race was called for Trump within 30 minutes, leaving cable personalities to banter about politics and wait for victory and concession speeches.

Tapper co-anchored CNN’s Iowa Caucuses coverage Monday night and cut off Trump’s speech about ten minutes in  — about the same amount of time they stuck with Nikki Haley’s speech. As Trump continued, Tapper noted the anti-immigrant rhetoric.

He also pointed out the record-breaking margin of Trump’s victory, the stunning entrance polls, and the “false belief” of Trump’s supporters that he did not lose in 2020:

TRUMP: Because right now we have an invasion. We have an invasion of millions and millions of people that are coming into our country. I can’t imagine why they think that’s a good thing.

JAKE TAPPER: Donald Trump declaring victory with a historically strong showing in the Iowa caucuses.

If these numbers hold the biggest victory for a non-incumbent president in the modern era for this contest, a relatively subdued speech as these things go so far, although here he is right now under, under my voice. You hear him repeating his anti-immigrant rhetoric.

He did take time to praise his rivals, Haley and DeSantis and Ramaswamy by name. Rather, untrumped like to do that, a gracious, but perhaps a sign of some message discipline, at least for one night.

He also praised his wife, all five of his children, all five by name. The victory for Mr. Trump was a decisive one. The numbers still coming in, but Trump on course, as of now, to have the strongest showing of any non-incumbent in the modern era of the Iowa caucuses.

And the entrance polls show how, with majorities of caucus goers saying that they believe the lie that President Biden didn’t win legitimately. It’s a false belief but it shows the degree to which Trump has remade and refashioned the Republican Party in his image not only with new Republican voters coming in but also by convincing Republicans of his ideology even when empirically false.

Mr. Trump, of course facing 91 felony charges, and the majority of caucus goers today said that they would vote for him for president even if convicted whether related to his attempts to overturn the 2020 election or his handling of classified materials.

Either way, nonetheless, a powerful, powerful victory for him, record breaking if the numbers hold. Erin?

Watch above via CNN’s Iowa caucuses coverage.