CNN anchor Jake Tapper wrapped up Sunday’s broadcast of “State of the Union” with a fable that compared President Donald Trump to a venomous snake.
Tapper appeared to put the blame on Republican officials, concluding with the question, “Did you not know who this man was when you took him in?” (RELATED: ‘The Most Fevered Brain’: Jake Tapper Mocks Trump Speech Blaming ‘Grand Conspiracy’)
WATCH:
“President Trump has been pushing lies and conspiracy theories for years that have made life more dangerous for all kinds of Americans,” Tapper began.
He explained that, in addition to Democrats, the president had verbally attacked blacks, Latinos, Jews, Muslims, Asian Americans, women, judges, entertainers, journalists and any Republican with whom he had a disagreement.
“This did not just start on November 3rd,” Tapper continued, pivoting to blame the party for allowing Trump to behave in that manner. “It turns out when a major political party coddles and enables and supports public figures who lie rapaciously and incessantly and also tolerate threats against those who challenge those lies, that storm of lies and indecency is strengthened and unleashed and it cannot be controlled. And ultimately the reason cynicism or ignorance or illness does not matter as much as that result.”
Tapper went on to cite a song that Trump himself had repeated on the campaign trail, calling it a part of the president’s “racist campaign against immigrants.”
“President Trump would often read the lyrics of a song that told the story of a tender hearted woman who finds a half-frozen snake and nurses it to health to fall victim to the snake’s predatory nature,” he explained, showing a clip of the president as he delivered the final line of the song.
“‘Oh shut up, silly woman, said the reptile with a grin. You knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in,'” Trump said.
Tapper concluded by saying that Republican leaders who were concerned about Trump’s influence on the Georgia runoff elections — which will decide the balance of power in the U.S. Senate — was a result they should have foreseen.
“As Republican officials deal with these horrors of a president whose hideous lies are putting their election hopes in Georgia at risk, and more importantly, tragically, unacceptably, horrifyingly, even putting lives at risk, it has to be asked, did you not know who this man was when you took him in?” Tapper asked.