Our story starts with a post supplied by Aaron Rupar which worked as designed as we'll see in a second:
Podcaster Kash Patel is on podcaster Dan Bongino's show today pic.twitter.com/DGoXcPmNfV
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 18, 2026
Just a couple of podcasters, eh?
In any case, the "journalism" instinct in CNN's Jake Tapper kicked in as he noticed that we might have witnessed a biased, softball interview (self-awareness is not a media strong suit):
The director of the FBI interviewed by his own former deputy director of the FBI. https://t.co/9Ef6dUKr6N
— Jake Tapper 🦅 (@jaketapper) February 18, 2026
Wow, that kind of thing is absolutely unprecedented!
Wait, no it isn't -- not by a long shot:
The difference is that CNN falsely presents itself to its audience as a neutral arbitrator of the news (deceptive)
— Andrew Kerr (@AndrewKerrNC) February 20, 2026
Nobody is under any false impression about Dan Bongino's partisan leanings. https://t.co/RpWvLEN63q pic.twitter.com/ZJpCtDXTJI
Correct. Bongino isn't sitting there pretending to be an objective "journalist."
Meanwhile...
— jimtreacher.substack.com (@jtLOL) February 18, 2026
Recommended
Former Directors accused of leaking classified information interviewed by the journalist to whom they provided the leaks. pic.twitter.com/QLM2bcDILW
— Jason Beale (@jabeale) February 19, 2026
https://t.co/FbEC6Q4vVq pic.twitter.com/rMHUDGvIyY
— John Ocasio-Rodham Nolte (@NolteNC) February 20, 2026
Dude...a little consistency once in a blue moon would be incredible. pic.twitter.com/nv3SyDGCSH
— XcentricXennial (@XcentricXennial) February 18, 2026
Consistency and maybe some self-awareness would be incredible. But we're not going to get that.
*****