Jake Tapper tried to shut down Kellyanne Conway Sunday as she suggested that the media helped twist President Donald Trump’s words in order to defeat him.
“It looks like you guys are afraid that he can’t be beaten fairly and squarely,” Conway argued during a segment of CNN’s “State of the Union” — to which Tapper replied, “That comment is beneath you.”
WATCH:
The exchange stemmed from a conversation about attacks on houses of worship and whether or not white supremacy is truly a rising threat worldwide.
Tapper noted that Trump had characterized his own response to the unrest in Charlottesville, Virginia, two years ago, as “perfect” and turned the question to Conway. (RELATED: Kellyanne Conway Explains Why Trump Is Suing House Democrats)
“Was President Trump’s response perfect?” he asked.
“I think it was twisted for many years,” Conway fired back.
“He said his response was perfect.” Tapper pressed, to which Conway replied, “Intent matters.”
“Was his response perfect? Gary Cohn doesn’t think his response was perfect,” Tapper tried again. “It’s a simple question. Yes or no.”
“It’s not a simple question,” Conway argued. “When President Trump condemned racism, bigotry, evil, violence and then took it many steps further and called out Neo-Nazis, white supremacists, KKK, that is darn near perfection.”
Tapper argued that the president had left some ambiguity as to what he had actually meant, but Conway repeated, “All Neo-Nazis, all anti-Christianity, all anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim activity should be condemned, dead stop full. That’s the perfect response.”
Tapper quickly pivoted to the “Muslim ban,” saying, “The president called for a full ban on Muslims entering the United States.”
“It looks like you guys are afraid that he can’t be beaten fairly and squarely,” Conway noted after the subject change, prompting Tapper to fire back, “That comment is beneath you.”