As the nation reacts to President-elect Donald Trump’s victory, CNN’s Jake Tapper went viral with his candid response upon learning that Vice President Kamala Harris did not surpass President Joe Biden’s 2020 performance in any state.
The incident happened Wednesday morning when Tapper asked CNN chief national correspondent John King for a visual to show the states where Harris outperformed Biden by at least 3 percent during his 2020 victory over Trump.
Unfortunately for Tapper, when King pulled up the election map, he was met with a gray visual, confirming that she failed to perform as well as Biden.
Holy smokes!” Tapper said in surprise. “Literally nothing?”
“Literally nothing,” King replied.
“Literally not one county?” Tapper asked again, still in shock.
Usually during an election, the states on the map would be lit up in red or blue, reflecting the two political parties. Since Harris failed to outstage Biden, King changed the map to reflect counties where she performed better.
“So in counties, in 58 counties, we just showed Donald Trump was over a thousand counties of the 4,600 counties and townships across America,.” explained King, per the New York Post.
“There might be more out here on the West Coast, possibly one or two more as they finish the count here, but in the states that matter — again, I just showed you all those Trump counties — in one county in battleground Pennsylvania, she’s outperforming President Biden by 3% or more.”
The video, which has gone viral, has been shared across social media, especially by conservatives who were quick to point out his shocked reaction.
Tapper’s reaction reflects the Democratic Party’s hopes that Harris would secure a victory for them after stepping in for Biden, who was believed to have limited chances of beating Trump in a rematch.
Harris replaced Biden as the Democratic nominee after the party witnessed his first 2024 presidential debate performance against Trump. As several top Democrats urged him to end his re-election campaign, Biden remained persistent, stating that he would not drop out.
Harris’ election performance was not what liberals had expected. As the results poured in, Trump maintained a steady lead, being called the projected winner of several states carrying significant electoral votes.
Democrats began to panic when Trump was projected to win North Carolina. As Election Night went on, all eyes were on Pennsylvania, a critical battleground state, which Trump won.
Trump was projected as the winner of the state of Wisconsin and declared president-elect, reaching 277 electoral votes.
