Jake Tapper 🦅

"To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle." -- George Orwell

A sampling of the deleted social media posts of a Mamdani-backed candidate who won tonight, Darializa Avila Chevalier. (Via @KFILE and @emsteck)

See ya next year, Snake River! 🎣 #catchandrelease

This legal battle between the DOJ and two top newsrooms stemmed from the government's leak hunts. And those hunts were a response to Trump's anger over crucial and carefully sourced stories about the risks of military action in Iran — stories that turned out to be prescient.

@DKThomp x.com/jaketapper/sta…

(CNN) — A US fighter jet pilot rescued by special forces after being shot down over Iran described a shocking sight before ejecting: multiple Iranian drones hovering in the air, moving as one, in a formation that resembled a jellyfish. cnn.com/2026/06/23/pol…

Reading Regime Change, Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan's new book on Trump, there are times I wondered how the hell these two NYT scribes got such amazing blow-by-blow dish, unless they were hiding under the Resolute desk. Full take in FH: tinabrown.substack.com/p/regime-chang…

Watch the full interview here: cnn.com/2026/06/21/pol…

On this Father's Day, Mitt Romney considers what he would give for one more chat with his father: "I'd give it all."

Mitt Romney has been a governor, a senator, and the Republican nominee for president but, if you ask him, his greatest accomplishment "is primarily one carried out by Ann, but together we have raised five wonderful sons."

Watch the full interview here: cnn.com/2026/06/21/pol…

Mitt Romney on how he - and his father - approached public service: "You get into public service if you want to do something. There are some people today who get into public service because they wanna be something... 'I wanna be a Senator. I wanna be a Governor.' That's very sad."

Senator Tim Scott's dad left when he was 7 years old, but he still saw him through rose-colored glasses: "I don't know very many kids who don't want to make their dads proud."

Watch the full interview here: cnn.com/2026/06/21/pol…

Senator Tim Scott's powerful Father's Day message: "If you are without a father, do not think that his absence somehow makes you less qualified to do anything. You are fearfully and wonderfully made... Do not let your dad's absence be an excuse for doing something that you will later regret."

Watch the full interview here: cnn.com/2026/06/21/pol…

Senator Tim Scott on becoming a father to adult children: "My pastor told me when I got married, he said, listen, you're marrying the mother, you're not marrying the kids. They're not asking you to be their father. You have to earn the right to have influence in their lives... That has served me really well."

In honor of Father's Day, Senator Mark Kelly opens up about his childhood and how he broke the cycle of violence perpetuated by his father: "I wanted to be a better dad to my kids than my dad was to me."

On FOX the other night, @JesseBWatters said that Vance had warned “the Jews” about Trump being their “daddy.” Jews are NOT Israelis. When Italy does something Washington objects to, no cable host says "a warning to the Catholics." When Japan does, no one says "a warning to the Buddhists." Even when we are at great odds with Iran, no one says “a warning to all Muslims.” Nations are nations. Governments are governments. Only with Israel does criticism instantly become a message to an entire global religion. This sloppy conflation—treating all Jews as responsible for Israeli policy—is textbook antisemitism. As @geraldposner and I wrote last month in Skeptic (“The New Normal for Antisemitism”): “Criticism of Israeli government policy is legitimate. What has shifted… is its recasting into a moral indictment of all Jews, whether they have anything to do with the country or government of Israel or not.” This is precisely how the surge in Jew-hatred is seeded and normalized. A popular cable news host should know better. Thanks @Eltza for the clip & @gary_weiss for the heads-up.

Senator Mark Kelly describes the physical violence he experienced as a child, including a harrowing barefoot run in the middle of the night to get help from his grandparents who were the "sanctuary."

The Trump administration’s second big gamble on Iran echoes his first-term strategy with Kim Jong Un: offering economic reintegration in exchange for denuclearization. Revolutionary dictatorships rarely take that bribe. My latest in @TheAtlantic theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/06/…