An Incredulous Jake Tapper Goes Off on the GOP and Trump’s Election Lies: How Many of Them ‘Actually Believe This Crap?’

CNN’s Jake Tapper reacted to Rep. Liz Cheney’s (R-WY) comments on Monday criticizing former President Donald Trump, noting that many Republicans remain steadfastly loyal to Trump, including promoting his lies about the 2020 election.

“The Fraudulent Presidential Election of 2020 will be, from this day forth, known as THE BIG LIE!” said Trump in a statement released by his PAC (as he remains excommunicated from Twitter). Cheney posted a tweet shortly thereafter making her position clear:

The 2020 presidential election was not stolen. Anyone who claims it was is spreading THE BIG LIE, turning their back on the rule of law, and poisoning our democratic system.

— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) May 3, 2021

Monday afternoon, CNN’s Jamie Gangel reported that Cheney made additional remarks about Trump and the future of the GOP at an American Enterprise Institute event, saying that they “can’t rebuild the party or the conservative movement on a foundation of lies” and the lie that the election was stolen was “a poison in the bloodstream of our democracy.”

“Does Cheney have a point here, that the Republican party is increasingly against democracy, not in terms of what they stand for but in terms of where they are going?” asked Tapper.

Nia-Malika Henderson replied that the GOP seemed “willing to embrace a delusional leader and the beliefs of that leader which are anti-democratic,” meaning Trump’s election lies and comments that encouraged the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) had both criticized Trump in the immediate aftermath of the insurrection but then went “back on their word and kind of soft pedal[led] it,” Henderson said. “And we see in Liz Cheney somebody who is not willing to do that.”

It was “difficult to see Liz Cheney hanging on in that kind of environment… it seems to be an untenable situation,” observed Henderson, listing several others who had sharply criticized Trump, like former Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) and former Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) were no longer in office and hadn’t even tried to run for re-election.

“It’s obvious there’s no reason she would do this other than because she thinks it’s the right thing to do,” remarked Tapper. “There’s no political benefit, not an obvious one at any rate,” noting that Cheney might lose her leadership position within the party and might not even be re-elected.

“Let me ask you something because I talk to a bunch of Republicans and I know you do, too,” Tapper said to Gangel. “How many of them do you think actually believe this crap? I’m sure the Jim Jordans and Matt Gaetzes of the world do but how many of the almost 200 members of the Republicans in the House or so, I forgot the exact number, but how many of them actually think that the election was stolen even though there’s no evidence to that? How many of them actually think that the insurrection was really actually a bunch of left-wingers in disguise?”

“I think that’s exactly the right question,” replied Gangel, noting that in February 145 House Republicans voted to keep Cheney in leadership. “That was after she had voted for impeachment, so I think that says a lot.”

“At the same time I heard from one Republican who said that Liz Cheney’s honesty is, quote, ‘killing him back home’ because his voters are still with Trump,” she concluded.

Watch the video above, via CNN.