October 6, 2025 • 11 mins
I talk with the longtime CNN host about the state of politics in the Trump era, his viral moment last week with Hakeem Jeffries, and his new book, "Race Against Terror."
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Scott VORDIEZ We're going to push our Fox News update
by just a few minutes here so we can talk
to CNN anchor and Chief Washington correspondent Jake Tapper, because
I want to see how many listeners I can get really,
really mad this morning. Jake Tapper, Welcome to eleven to
ten kfab.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
It's great to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
How are you good, Jake? It's so good to have
you on the program here. A lot of listeners as
soon as they hear CNN here on a Fox News radio,
conservative talk radio station, they're like, are you gonna have
fun with him? Or are you gonna yell at him
and hang up on him? So, Jake, how would you
like this to go?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I think we should just talk. I bet we agree
on ninety nine percent of everything going on.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Will you come from an era where you could do that?
As you look at the landscape of journalism, now, what
do you think about this younger generation that seems to
be more activist than maybe the professionals who came before
us in this business?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
It makes me concerned, to be honest. I mean, I
always just tell my staff and younger journalists whenever I
talk to him that who, what, when, where, why, and
how is the job? And if you want to do
ideological journalism, there's places for that. I mean, it's totally fine.
I mean the origins of journalism in the United States
are partisan newspapers, you know, pro federalists or pro Democrat
(01:23):
Republican newspapers. There's nothing wrong with that. And I learn
a lot from the New Republic or the National Review,
and I see stories that I maybe wouldn't have seen
on conservative air and progressive channels. But I also do
think that there should be a place as the primary
source of news for non ideological news, and I try
(01:45):
to do that on my show on CNN every day.
I'm not saying I succeed every single time. I hear
from people thinking I'm too liberal or I'm too conservative both.
But the idea that there is a role for somebody
who's not rooting for or one party or the other,
I think is an important one. And I don't like
it when people who are supposed to be in non
(02:08):
ideological roles sound ideological.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
And you invited the President to sit down for a
very interesting interview, and I'm sure that you caught a
lot of flack, like, how dare you give the president
of the United States a platform to be able to speak.
I'm sure you caught a lot of flack for that.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Well. I mean, you know, we are now in an
era where I will hear from people that are mad
at me for even booking Republicans on my show, and
where some people get mad at me for talking to
Democrats or hearing not just Democrats but like, you know,
very very liberal democrats. And look, this is about journalism.
(02:50):
This is about the ideas of these public officials and
these activists. It's about the mosaic of this country. Really,
I root for the United States. I want this country
to see seed. I don't like all the siloing of
people who only listen to people that they agree with,
or only want to talk to people they agree with.
I don't think it's healthy. That's not the era that
(03:11):
I grew up in. You know, I grew up at
a time when a Republican could be elected a mayor
in a major city and the like. So I don't know.
I just think the siloing is unhealthy, and I'm all
for just more dialogue, more conversation. I like being a show.
By the way, in the last week I've had on
(03:31):
both Democratic Leader Hakim Jeffries and House Republican Speaker Mike Johnson.
I like being a show where both of those guys
will come on and both of them know I'll ask
them a couple questions that might be a little tougher
than on other channels, but at the same time it
will be respectful and our audience will learn more about
their points of view.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
You became a meme yesterday for that conversation with House
some Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Let's go to the tape.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Character characterize it as you want to give health insurance
to undocumented immigrants. I understand that's not really an accurate depiction,
but what it does do is it's a lie. It's
a lie. But what you support does bring back funding
for emergency medicaid to hospitals, some of which does pay
(04:20):
for undocumented immigrants.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
So tell me about that moment, Jake Tapper, Well, I'd
done this research.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
I wanted to know when the Republicans are saying because
obviously the Obamacare subsidies of the Democrats are trying to
get extended. That will impact your listeners if they're on
these Obamacare subsidies that those do not go to or
are not supposed to go to undocumented immigrants. So I
(04:50):
called somebody I knew in the Trump administration. I said,
can you explain to me what you're talking about here? Like,
what is it in the Democratic legislation that you are
saying and that Trump and and the President Trump and
Vice President of Vans that are talking about saying would
provide health insurance or medical care for people who are
in this country illegally. And he walked me through it.
(05:11):
I said, Okay, I understand that it's not exactly they
are fighting for health care for illegals quote unquote, but
it is two parts that are both worth people talking
about in understanding. I don't think they're being presented, and
they're being presented in a very campaign shorthand kind of way.
(05:32):
It's the best possible interpretation, but it's one. The Democrats
are trying to bring back emergency Medicaid payments that go
to hospitals to pay for all the people in this
country that don't have health insurance, who use our emergency
rooms as like doctor's offices. If they have something wrong,
they don't have money to go to doctors, so they
just go to an emergency room, and there's a Reagan
(05:52):
era law that says the emergency room has to take
care of them. So that is an example of what
they're talking about. The other one is that there are
people in this country legally but they're not citizens. It's
like the Haitians in Springfield, Ohio and the rest. They
have asylum or temporary protected status, etc. And they had
Medicaid Medicare benefits and then the Republican One Big Beautiful
(06:16):
Bill Act took it away, and the Democrats are fighting
to bring that back. So those are the facts, and
the people out there are entitled to the facts, and
like they can think whatever they want of them. It's
not quite true as the Democrats say that there's nothing
here it's all a lie. And it's not quite true
(06:36):
as the Republicans say. The Democrats are fighting to give
Cadillac Medicare plans to illegals. It's something else. It's in between.
And that's my job is to explain what it is
that's in between. And so I think that that became
a meme because conservatives saw that I was, I think
first of all, because I had actually done the work
and explained what it was that they were talking about
(07:00):
But also I guess probably people are not. You know,
maybe I think that I asked tough questions of both
Hakim Jeffreys and Mike Johnson, and I think that not
a lot of people maybe do that.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
I guess no, And I'm glad that you care about that.
Talking here for a few more minutes with Jake Tapper.
He's got a book out. We'll talk about that in
a second. But based on what you just said here,
you and I are about the same vintage. Were both
a couple of gen X kids. I'm sure you grew
up watching that classic cartoon of the sheep and the
Wolf who say good morning, do each other, drink a
(07:33):
little coffee, and then they clock in and try and
kill each other for the next several hours, and the
clock out and say, all right, see you tomorrow. You're
there in DC. You see these Republicans and Democrats? Is
there some of that going on? This performative? We have
to really act like we hate each other all the time,
and meanwhile there are still getting together and backslapping.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
I not to the degree of Sam sheepdog and Ralph
Wolf in that great Warner Brothers cartoon. There is there is,
There are people like I was really happy to hear
that John Fetterman, the Democrats from Pennsylvania, and Katie Britt
(08:13):
the Republican from Alabama. When I heard that they were
teaming up on like mental health stuff, I thought that
was awesome, And I know that they're actually friends, and
I like hearing about that stuff because obviously they disagree
on so much, but there are things that are not
necessarily partisan them. There's more that we agree on as Americans.
(08:34):
It's just we're not debating those issues because we agree
on them, right, So I like hearing it. There's probably
more of it than people acknowledge, but there's also probably
not enough of it. There is probably not enough of it.
There are any number of politicians that I like that
are Democrats, that are Republicans, that are far left liberals,
(08:55):
that are far right conservatives. And I'm not going to
get any of them trouble by saying who I like,
but I mean they you know, at the end of
the day, I do think most of the people that
come to this town, regardless of party, are here because
they want to make a difference. They want to fight
for what they think is the right thing. I think Washington,
DC can be corrupting. But I don't think it's the
(09:17):
friendships with people on the other side of the aisle
that's corrupting. I think it's seniority. I think it's the
desire to get re elected and the need for money.
And I think it's just you know, at the end
of the day, it's a lot easier to be just
a partisan Democrat or a partisan Republican unless you're in
a swing district, than it is to be an independent thinker.
(09:38):
The incentive structures are all whacked.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Yeah, we've got just a couple of minutes left here
and great and by the.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Way, I mean, you guys have a great congressman. You
have an independent thinker. I know he's retiring, but Don
Bacon very conservative guy, but also very very open minded
independent guy.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
That's not going to help him with a lot of
republic real sty Republicans here. No, I am very happy
to call Congressman Don Bacon a friend here. And Jake,
I've really enjoyed this conversation. You're on CNN so much.
I think that we're probably on the air right now.
I don't know how you had time to write a book,
(10:14):
but with our moments remaining here tell me about race
against terror.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
So it's a very nonpartisan. It's just a real it's
a thriller. It's a true story about an all kind
of terrorists that gets picked up during the Arab Spring,
and it is the race that the US attorneys and
the assistant US attorneys and the FBI have to build
a case against this guy before the Italians set just
stick him in a refugee camp and he escapes and
(10:42):
kills as many Americans as possible. And if you like
procedurals like CSI or NCIS or cold case anything like
that that has to do with detective work and slothing,
this book is for you because that's what it is
to bount the slothing to catch this guy and to
lock him away forever. And it's just a really interesting story.
I tried to write it, even though it's nonfiction. I
(11:03):
tried to write it like a thriller. And it's getting
some nice reviews, and I hope people check it out.
It's not a political book. It's not a partisan book.
It's about the war on terror and people trying to
keep us safe.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Coming up here on the twenty fourth anniversary of the
US led war in Afghanistan, beginning. This is the race
against terror, chasing an Al Kata killer at the dawn
of the forever war. Jake Tapper, not just on CNN,
also an accomplished author, and Jake, I've really enjoyed this conversation.
Thank you so much for taking the time for us
(11:35):
this morning.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
God bless you and your listeners, and thank you so much.
Have a great weekend.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Scott Boy Mornings nine to eleven on news Radio eleven
ten KFAB
Scott VORDIEZ We're going to push our Fox News update
by just a few minutes here so we can talk
to CNN anchor and Chief Washington correspondent Jake Tapper, because
I want to see how many listeners I can get really,
really mad this morning. Jake Tapper, Welcome to eleven to
ten kfab.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
It's great to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
How are you good, Jake? It's so good to have
you on the program here. A lot of listeners as
soon as they hear CNN here on a Fox News radio,
conservative talk radio station, they're like, are you gonna have
fun with him? Or are you gonna yell at him
and hang up on him? So, Jake, how would you
like this to go?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I think we should just talk. I bet we agree
on ninety nine percent of everything going on.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Will you come from an era where you could do that?
As you look at the landscape of journalism, now, what
do you think about this younger generation that seems to
be more activist than maybe the professionals who came before
us in this business?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
It makes me concerned, to be honest. I mean, I
always just tell my staff and younger journalists whenever I
talk to him that who, what, when, where, why, and
how is the job? And if you want to do
ideological journalism, there's places for that. I mean, it's totally fine.
I mean the origins of journalism in the United States
are partisan newspapers, you know, pro federalists or pro Democrat
(01:23):
Republican newspapers. There's nothing wrong with that. And I learn
a lot from the New Republic or the National Review,
and I see stories that I maybe wouldn't have seen
on conservative air and progressive channels. But I also do
think that there should be a place as the primary
source of news for non ideological news, and I try
(01:45):
to do that on my show on CNN every day.
I'm not saying I succeed every single time. I hear
from people thinking I'm too liberal or I'm too conservative both.
But the idea that there is a role for somebody
who's not rooting for or one party or the other,
I think is an important one. And I don't like
it when people who are supposed to be in non
(02:08):
ideological roles sound ideological.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
And you invited the President to sit down for a
very interesting interview, and I'm sure that you caught a
lot of flack, like, how dare you give the president
of the United States a platform to be able to speak.
I'm sure you caught a lot of flack for that.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Well. I mean, you know, we are now in an
era where I will hear from people that are mad
at me for even booking Republicans on my show, and
where some people get mad at me for talking to
Democrats or hearing not just Democrats but like, you know,
very very liberal democrats. And look, this is about journalism.
(02:50):
This is about the ideas of these public officials and
these activists. It's about the mosaic of this country. Really,
I root for the United States. I want this country
to see seed. I don't like all the siloing of
people who only listen to people that they agree with,
or only want to talk to people they agree with.
I don't think it's healthy. That's not the era that
(03:11):
I grew up in. You know, I grew up at
a time when a Republican could be elected a mayor
in a major city and the like. So I don't know.
I just think the siloing is unhealthy, and I'm all
for just more dialogue, more conversation. I like being a show.
By the way, in the last week I've had on
(03:31):
both Democratic Leader Hakim Jeffries and House Republican Speaker Mike Johnson.
I like being a show where both of those guys
will come on and both of them know I'll ask
them a couple questions that might be a little tougher
than on other channels, but at the same time it
will be respectful and our audience will learn more about
their points of view.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
You became a meme yesterday for that conversation with House
some Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Let's go to the tape.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Character characterize it as you want to give health insurance
to undocumented immigrants. I understand that's not really an accurate depiction,
but what it does do is it's a lie. It's
a lie. But what you support does bring back funding
for emergency medicaid to hospitals, some of which does pay
(04:20):
for undocumented immigrants.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
So tell me about that moment, Jake Tapper, Well, I'd
done this research.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
I wanted to know when the Republicans are saying because
obviously the Obamacare subsidies of the Democrats are trying to
get extended. That will impact your listeners if they're on
these Obamacare subsidies that those do not go to or
are not supposed to go to undocumented immigrants. So I
(04:50):
called somebody I knew in the Trump administration. I said,
can you explain to me what you're talking about here? Like,
what is it in the Democratic legislation that you are
saying and that Trump and and the President Trump and
Vice President of Vans that are talking about saying would
provide health insurance or medical care for people who are
in this country illegally. And he walked me through it.
(05:11):
I said, Okay, I understand that it's not exactly they
are fighting for health care for illegals quote unquote, but
it is two parts that are both worth people talking
about in understanding. I don't think they're being presented, and
they're being presented in a very campaign shorthand kind of way.
(05:32):
It's the best possible interpretation, but it's one. The Democrats
are trying to bring back emergency Medicaid payments that go
to hospitals to pay for all the people in this
country that don't have health insurance, who use our emergency
rooms as like doctor's offices. If they have something wrong,
they don't have money to go to doctors, so they
just go to an emergency room, and there's a Reagan
(05:52):
era law that says the emergency room has to take
care of them. So that is an example of what
they're talking about. The other one is that there are
people in this country legally but they're not citizens. It's
like the Haitians in Springfield, Ohio and the rest. They
have asylum or temporary protected status, etc. And they had
Medicaid Medicare benefits and then the Republican One Big Beautiful
(06:16):
Bill Act took it away, and the Democrats are fighting
to bring that back. So those are the facts, and
the people out there are entitled to the facts, and
like they can think whatever they want of them. It's
not quite true as the Democrats say that there's nothing
here it's all a lie. And it's not quite true
(06:36):
as the Republicans say. The Democrats are fighting to give
Cadillac Medicare plans to illegals. It's something else. It's in between.
And that's my job is to explain what it is
that's in between. And so I think that that became
a meme because conservatives saw that I was, I think
first of all, because I had actually done the work
and explained what it was that they were talking about
(07:00):
But also I guess probably people are not. You know,
maybe I think that I asked tough questions of both
Hakim Jeffreys and Mike Johnson, and I think that not
a lot of people maybe do that.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
I guess no, And I'm glad that you care about that.
Talking here for a few more minutes with Jake Tapper.
He's got a book out. We'll talk about that in
a second. But based on what you just said here,
you and I are about the same vintage. Were both
a couple of gen X kids. I'm sure you grew
up watching that classic cartoon of the sheep and the
Wolf who say good morning, do each other, drink a
(07:33):
little coffee, and then they clock in and try and
kill each other for the next several hours, and the
clock out and say, all right, see you tomorrow. You're
there in DC. You see these Republicans and Democrats? Is
there some of that going on? This performative? We have
to really act like we hate each other all the time,
and meanwhile there are still getting together and backslapping.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
I not to the degree of Sam sheepdog and Ralph
Wolf in that great Warner Brothers cartoon. There is there is,
There are people like I was really happy to hear
that John Fetterman, the Democrats from Pennsylvania, and Katie Britt
(08:13):
the Republican from Alabama. When I heard that they were
teaming up on like mental health stuff, I thought that
was awesome, And I know that they're actually friends, and
I like hearing about that stuff because obviously they disagree
on so much, but there are things that are not
necessarily partisan them. There's more that we agree on as Americans.
(08:34):
It's just we're not debating those issues because we agree
on them, right, So I like hearing it. There's probably
more of it than people acknowledge, but there's also probably
not enough of it. There is probably not enough of it.
There are any number of politicians that I like that
are Democrats, that are Republicans, that are far left liberals,
(08:55):
that are far right conservatives. And I'm not going to
get any of them trouble by saying who I like,
but I mean they you know, at the end of
the day, I do think most of the people that
come to this town, regardless of party, are here because
they want to make a difference. They want to fight
for what they think is the right thing. I think Washington,
DC can be corrupting. But I don't think it's the
(09:17):
friendships with people on the other side of the aisle
that's corrupting. I think it's seniority. I think it's the
desire to get re elected and the need for money.
And I think it's just you know, at the end
of the day, it's a lot easier to be just
a partisan Democrat or a partisan Republican unless you're in
a swing district, than it is to be an independent thinker.
(09:38):
The incentive structures are all whacked.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Yeah, we've got just a couple of minutes left here
and great and by the.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Way, I mean, you guys have a great congressman. You
have an independent thinker. I know he's retiring, but Don
Bacon very conservative guy, but also very very open minded
independent guy.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
That's not going to help him with a lot of
republic real sty Republicans here. No, I am very happy
to call Congressman Don Bacon a friend here. And Jake,
I've really enjoyed this conversation. You're on CNN so much.
I think that we're probably on the air right now.
I don't know how you had time to write a book,
(10:14):
but with our moments remaining here tell me about race
against terror.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
So it's a very nonpartisan. It's just a real it's
a thriller. It's a true story about an all kind
of terrorists that gets picked up during the Arab Spring,
and it is the race that the US attorneys and
the assistant US attorneys and the FBI have to build
a case against this guy before the Italians set just
stick him in a refugee camp and he escapes and
(10:42):
kills as many Americans as possible. And if you like
procedurals like CSI or NCIS or cold case anything like
that that has to do with detective work and slothing,
this book is for you because that's what it is
to bount the slothing to catch this guy and to
lock him away forever. And it's just a really interesting story.
I tried to write it, even though it's nonfiction. I
(11:03):
tried to write it like a thriller. And it's getting
some nice reviews, and I hope people check it out.
It's not a political book. It's not a partisan book.
It's about the war on terror and people trying to
keep us safe.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Coming up here on the twenty fourth anniversary of the
US led war in Afghanistan, beginning. This is the race
against terror, chasing an Al Kata killer at the dawn
of the forever war. Jake Tapper, not just on CNN,
also an accomplished author, and Jake, I've really enjoyed this conversation.
Thank you so much for taking the time for us
(11:35):
this morning.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
God bless you and your listeners, and thank you so much.
Have a great weekend.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Scott Boy Mornings nine to eleven on news Radio eleven
ten KFAB
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