CNN’s Jake Tapper White-Knights for Kaitlan Collins Again Against Historically Unpopular President

Is President Donald Trump historically unpopular? He must be, because that news comes from CNN anchor Jake Tapper, and we all know that CNN deals only in facts. Tapper, once again, was triggered by President Donald Trump taking a shot at CNN's chief White House correspondent, Kaitlan Collins. Tapper happened upon a post by The Bulwark's Tim Miller sampling a bit from TIME's interview with Trump that was published on Thursday. TIME had asked Trump about his "contentious relationship with the media" and asked why he was banning news outlets now. "Well, it's just bad story after bad story, and when I say bad story, I can handle bad stories. I've got a lot of bad stories," Trump answered. "Most of them are fake, and it's not only CNN, and it's not only MSDNC. It's a lot of other people." TIME then tried to turn the line of questioning to Iran, but Trump wasn't done yet:

… I don't think anybody should be forced to bear fake news, constantly bad stories, because I've done great things. I mean, I've done Venezuela. I've done—I can name, I can name 100 great things I've done. I never get good press. I never get fair press. Doesn’t have to be good. All it has to be is fair. So at a certain point, you say, "What's the purpose of like this crazy Kaitlan Collins?" She's a very average person. She's the most unhappy young person I've ever seen. If I did something spectacular by any standard, and they would write about it, they will only write badly.

Trump is asked about the war in Iran by Time magazine. His reply:

"What's the purpose of like this crazy Kaitlin Collins?" She's a very average person. She's the most unhappy young person I've ever seen."https://t.co/Xx5SWv5gNd
— Tim Miller (@Timodc) October 1, 2026

Tapper, who wouldn't know anything about unfair coverage of the president, jumped in to defend Collins:

She’s a great, aggressive reporter/anchor who asks him tough, substantive questions, as is necessary in our republic.

The president is historically unpopular, consumer confidence is way down, and 3/4 of the public thinks we’re on the wrong track. That’s what’s truly at issue. https://t.co/AxNQvWkSO1
— Jake Tapper 🦅 (@jaketapper) October 1, 2026

Sounding a little defensive there. We know that Tapper and company have been doing everything they can to chip away at Trump's approval rating, but the guy refuses to leave office.