Jake Tapper Mocks JD Vance for Dodging Question on Trump Coming After Journalists: You ‘Sound Like a University of Pennsylvania President’

CNN’s Jake Tapper pressed Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) on Donald Trump and his allies inching closer to vengeful authoritarianism in their political rhetoric.

Vance joined Tapper Sunday for an interview on State of the Union, where he was asked if he had any concerns about Trump abusing his powers if elected president again next year. The senator answered by dismissing the concerns of former House Republican Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney, and claiming “the idea that Trump is going to be radically different than what he was four years ago is just preposterous.”

“I think this desire to make the election all about the past is indicative of the fact the Democrats don’t have much to run on,” Vance argued. That prompted Tapper to comment that “The one talking about the past more than anyone is Donald Trump… He’s really the one focused on 2020.”

Vance, in response, insisted Trump is focused on the future. But Tapper referenced recent comments from Kash Patel, a Trump loyalist who recently appeared Steve Bannon’s podcast and promised revenge on the ex-president’s political foes.

“We will go out and find the conspirators, not just in government, but in the media,” Patel said on the War Room. “Yes, we’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections. We’re going to come after you.”

When Tapper finished airing the clip, Vance offered to talk about “what I think he was talking about, though I didn’t see the full context of the clip.”

“Sound like a University of Pennsylvania president,” Tapper said dryly — referencing the congressional testimony of Liz Magill, who just resigned from her post amid outrage for her failure to expressly condemn rising anti-Semitism on college campuses.

Vance chuckled at that before railing against the Twitter suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop controversy.

“So you agree with Kash Patel?” Tapper asked.

Watch Vance’s answer above via CNN.