Stephen Miller and Jake Tapper Duke It Out On CNN

The talk of the Sunday political shows is the explosive interview of Stephen Miller by CNN’s Jake Tapper. The heated exchange culminated in Tapper cutting the interview short the and saying that the senior policy advisor for the Trump Administration had “wasted enough of my viewers’ time.”

The interview, on CNN’s State of the Union, centered around the new book, “Fire and Fury,” that contains a number of quotes by Steve Bannon that Miller characterized as “grotesque.” Miller also repeatedly called President Trump a “political genius” who led a “magical” movement.

The interview went off the rails about halfway through the 12-minute video as Miller began attacking Tapper and CNN for their coverage of the Trump Administration. Miller called CNN’s coverage “salacious” and accused Tapper and others of taking “joy [in] trying to stick the knife in” as well as repeatedly calling Tapper “condescending.”

For his part, Tapper accused Miller of playing to the president, at one point saying, “I’m sure he’s watching, and he’s happy you said that.”

When Miller demanded three minutes to make the case for Trump, Tapper responded, “This is my show, and I don’t want to do that.” CNN Editor-at-Large Chris Cillizza defended Tapper’s response in a follow-up article saying, “And the reason is because that's not journalism. The end.”

The bout ended with a technical knockout by Tapper who abruptly cut the interview short after accusing Miller of mounting a “filibuster” that prevented deeper questioning. “I get it. There’s one viewer you care about right now,” Tapper said, “and you’re being obsequious in order to please him. I think I’ve wasted enough of my viewers’ time.” At that point, Tapper shifted to a headline about Jeff Sessions and Miller’s microphone was apparently cut off.  

Both sides seemed to claim victory in the aftermath. President Trump tweeted, “Jake Tapper of Fake News CNN just got destroyed in his interview with Stephen Miller of the Trump Administration.”

Tapper responded with his own tweet that thanked Twitter followers for “the kind words” and featured a short gif of Tapper. In the gif, a grinning Tapper toasts his fans with a presumably frosty adult beverage. The drink in question? Colt 45.

Originally published on The Resurgent