Jake Tapper clashes with House Dem in heated exchange: 'May not be a big deal for you!'

[SocialDemocrat61]

Jake Tapper clashes with House Dem in heated exchange: 'May not be a big deal for you!'
By Robert Davis

Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) clashed with CNN's Jake Tapper on Tuesday over looming cuts to the federal Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, otherwise known as food stamps.

Funding for SNAP is set to expire Nov. 1 if Congressional lawmakers are unable to reach a deal to reopen the federal government. Allowing the funding to expire could put more than 40 million Americans at risk of facing food insecurity, according to estimates.

Tapper and Stansbury discussed the potential impact of cuts to SNAP during Tuesday's broadcast of "The Lead with Jake Tapper."
...
"They are about to cut off food assistance to millions of Americans," Stansbury said. "And so I think it's bizarre that Chairman Comer is going on TV talking about an investigation into a former president who is not even a sitting president over a non-issue while literally Americans are about to starve."

Tapper then claimed that SNAP funding is going to run out because of a "disagreement" over contingency funding, a claim that Stansbury pushed back on forcefully.

https://www.rawstory.com/melanie-stansbury-2674244278/#comments_section_start

[choie]

1. What a shill.

Yeah, there’s a “disagreement” over the contingency plan. Trump and the USDA are lying, and the Dems know it.

[Lovie777]

2. Tried to tell the USA that shithole and comrades were going to destroy the country....................

do harm to it's people both mentally and physically. That immigration round ups were going to be inhumane, that thousands were going to lose their jobs, healthcare, insurance, homes, vehicles, etc.

Propaganda use in social media, education, AI, tv, movies, corporate media - to divide with hatred, violence.............

Tapper is full of shit, shithole is mentally and physically messed up, and where is the outrage?

[MorbidButterflyTat]

64. Maybe check out

Maddow's coverage of nationwide No Kings protests.

It wasn't that long ago.

[gab13by13]

3. Watching CNN is bad for one's health, mental and physical.

[Jbraybarten]

55. It's fascinating that the right thinks that (or pushes) CNN as some liberal outlet. It's been enabling the right for...

decades

[Baitball Blogger]

4. If Tapper is so opposed to a short term solution he should put pressure on the Republicans.

Today it's a question of SNAP benefits. If the Democrats give in too quickly, it will affect health care. And the day after that, the Republicans will figure out a way to defund SNAP completely, anyway.

Lots of moving parts. Too bad Tapper isn't quick enough to keep up.

[Scubamatt]

76. Nope,

Its all theater; the media's role is to constantly beat the drum about why the Democrats don't reach out to the other side while painting Republicans as being in touch with "real America". Surprised that Tapper could find time away from trying to convince us that "Biden being old" was the GREATEST scandal in American history. If we ever take back our government, I want to see us re-establish an upgraded version of the Fairness doctrine, along with an antitrust review of the consolidated media to break the hold that conservatism has on the media.

[dem4decades]

5. Why don't Democrats just mock him to his face? Then i MIGHT watch Tapper.

[jfz9580m]

6. I have no idea who Jake Tapper is

But this came up on Salon Mag yesterday (though it is from 2003) and based on this alone the man seems like an ass:
https://www.salon.com/2003/02/01/purple_raines/

Salon Mag is one of the few things I follow anymore aside from Current Affairs Magazine.
Mostly because of Chauncey DeVega and their movie reviews. And Andrew O’Hehir and Amanda Marcotte can be funny.

But I am maxed out with subscriptions right now so I am plugging them ;-/. I don’t really like using anything without paying. Aside from everything else, as I learnt from bitter experience, anything “free” has hidden costs and they can be exorbitant.
I guess I could subscribe for just a month now and then.

Commensurately priced things of actual direct value or that you genuinely support are the only things that will ever have me sink any of my resources into them voluntarily.

I feel pretty ripped off as a citizen/scientist these days. I am not a “consumer”. But i am also not kleptocrat-friendly which seems to be the type of person thriving these days. Someone who pays no dues to anyone but piles on to everyone and everything like many tech companies I can think of - large as well as small and creepy.

[SocialDemocrat61]

9. Really? Where have you been the last 30 years?

[PCIntern]

10. I was going to say...

Btw…who was this Walter Cronkite? I keep seeing his name over the years….

just in case

[SocialDemocrat61]

13. I know

I can never understand why some will proudly proclaim that they don't know who some well known person is as if it is some badge of honor. They might as well post 'Look at me, I'm ignorant'. Especially when there is this thing called Google.

[jfz9580m]

16. Well It wasn't really a proud proclamation

Last edited Wed Oct 29, 2025, 11:17 AM - Edit history (1)

It was just a comment…And I don’t feel ignorant for not knowing who this person is, though I do feel ignorant on many other counts.
It was a diss aimed at Jake Tapper.

It means one is saying “this person is not memorable” and he really isn’t. I won’t remember his name.

And as an aside, Google is a malicious data mining giant and I use DuckDuckGo. Matt Stoller and many others exhaustively cover that.

[Stacey Grove]

18. I'd never feel ignorant for not knowing who a television entertainer is

Tapper is no journalist.

[jfz9580m]

19. Yeah I was confused by that response

The original post was slamming Jake Tapper and so was I. The overarching topic seemed to be journalism and Tapper seems like everything wrong with it. As you said an entertainer.

[Stacey Grove]

20. It's just low-rent nastiness for no reason

I'd just brush it off.

You made a good point, btw.

[PCIntern]

23. Low-rent?

For crying out loud, he’s the number one editorial commentator on CNN and has been for a couple decades at least. You know, it is not OK to say “I don’t know much about so-and-so, but this is my opinion…“. It would be like me saying “I don’t know much about structural steel, but I don’t think that building is sturdy enough.“

Sorry… That’s how I feel and I don’t think I’m alone.

[Gore1FL]

25. Why not just inform the user rather than belittling them, though? nt

[PCIntern]

32. Ok...you want to know why?

Because to voice a multi-paragraph opinion with no knowledge or history of the individual about whom the conversation circles, is a waste of everyone’s time. This poster has been around long enough to know that fundamentals are critical in having opinions, or at least voicing them, and yes, Jake Tapper is an ass.

And I didn’t write the first critical post, I simply seconded it.

[Gore1FL]

45. I'm not sure perpetuating this sub-thread unrelated to Jake Tapper advances your point. nt

You certainly are re

[muriel_volestrangler]

31. Jake Tapper is well known to people who watch CNN.

"Number one"? Not Christiane Amanpour, who is internationally known? Wolf Blitzer? Anderson Cooper?

"A bit of an asshole for a couple of decades" is not that great a basis for fame. I see he joined CNN in 2013.

[jfz9580m]

35. It was a flippant remark

Besides I pointed to an article going by which the man sounds like an ass.

But as for your other point: It would be like me saying “I don’t know much about structural steel, but I don’t think that building is sturdy enough.“

It gets to the crux of my complaint about a lot these days. One cannot possibly be an expert on everything. It’s hard to be an expert even in one niche field. For instance since I know nothing about structural steel, I rely on a contractor who is verifiably not a creep nor an asshole or just inept to decide whether a house is sturdy enough.

And since Google was mentioned in passing, it’s an an example of the type of awful giant which is why societal trust is at an all time low.

I don’t express empty paranoid opinions, but if trust in most systems these days is low, it’s because those systems suck. YMMV.

[MorbidButterflyTat]

65. I totally got you

And I'm sure I'm not alone.

[jfz9580m]

72. Thanks

[SocialDemocrat61]

37. Exactly!

[LisaM]

41. I didn't know who Charlie Kirk was.

I wouldn't say I "proclaimed" it, but I was surprised at the number of people who did.

[GusBob]

62. Same, not a clue

And everyone in our workplace was talking about him. I was confused about that Kimmel fella too, thought he was a TV sports guy.

And heretic that I am, I have never seen a second of the Madow program. Even after I read on DU that she is our best hope for saving democracy,,,,,,,,, how's that working out?

[SocialDemocrat61]

34. No need to get so defensive

But announcing you don't know who a famous person is just isn't the flex that you think it is. Maybe next time try the emoji.

[jfz9580m]

39. Well I wasn't expecting a prize for it or anything

;-/
And this confirms I guess that I shouldn’t send it in for “witty comeback of the year”..oh well..another dashed hope..

[SocialDemocrat61]

40. That is a wise decision!

[themaguffin]

53. it's weird that someone would think of your comment as...

an attempted "flex."

[jfz9580m]

59. Well I think SocialDemocrat61 was probably just ribbing me

If DUers unfortunate enough to read any of my diatribes get a headache from them and find the style an embarrassment to the community, I can assure them that I agree entirely. I can rarely stand to read my own writing. Google Gemini would probably claim a horrible complication of mental disorders can be detected in my writing.

I disagree. It’s just writing of a rather poor quality. Not the worst you can find on the net, which is why everything is breaking.

I try to do what I can to not have DU be attacked as a place where paranoid people post. It’s so hard to not sound paranoid these days.

For all that I shall never again be swayed by friend nor foe from my monothematic attacks on the tech oligarchs and their destruction of society ;-/.

[themaguffin]

61. Ok

[jfz9580m]

70. I like your handle btw

It somehow fits the thread ..

[themaguffin]

73. ha yeah, and thanks!

What can I say, I'm a big Hitch fan.

Edit - for some reason this replied to your previous comment.

[jfz9580m]

74. I used to enjoy Hitchcock collections as a kid

They were real finds - these eerie and unsettling short stories.

Sadly I have not been able to find the ones I read as a kid again. Many of them were by relatively unknown authors, making them hard to track down.

[Rebl2]

36. I would

understand if they are in their teens or early twenties, especially if they don’t watch any type of news on television.

[jfz9580m]

43. I don't watch any tv news

It was a casual remark not intended to start a confusing flame-war. I tried to defuse it with the poster above since I would prefer to stick to attacking Jake Tapper and Google.
Look I am sure I have an annoying posting style. It annoys me so I don’t blame you if you find it annoying. I don’t do this for a living unlike Jake Tapper.

Jake Tapper’s writing is worse than mine and he gets paid for it. These are just posts online.
But regardless I post because I have real issues with many systems including Google.

[senseandsensibility]

60. For what it's worth

I had no trouble understanding what you were saying. It was obvious you were, if anything, agreeing with the OP. I don't really understand what the objection to your comment was. People know/don't know all kinds of things. If a DUer cares to address someone's professed ignorance, they should just kindly inform them. If not, just skip over it. We're stressed enough as it is without looking for things to tear each other down over.

[MorbidButterflyTat]

66. Agree.

The nastiness is over the top and completely unnecessary.

[senseandsensibility]

69. DU

is supposed to be a place where we can support each other and "argue" civilly. Lately, it's felt less and less like that. I'm reducing my presence here for that reason. When I do post, I try to be positive and supportive to other posters, especially.

[jfz9580m]

71. Thanks

I think the POTUS has us all on edge. Appreciate the support …

[jfz9580m]

11. Those interchangeable talking heads

Never make an impression on me.

[SocialDemocrat61]

12. Google is your friend

[jfz9580m]

14. No it isn't. Nt

[Jbraybarten]

17. Yep. Google is absolutely not our friend.

[SocialDemocrat61]

33. All sources of information are

https://www.google.com/

[Jbraybarten]

54. Google still not your friend.

[jfz9580m]

58. Well they probably dislike democrats generally

It must be a relief to them to not have to pretend to be progressive. I never bought it..it seemed so superficial.
I can’t imagine they liked Biden much after Lina Khan:

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/the-rage-of-google

The Rage of Google
The DOJ put forward a proposal to take apart the search giant's market power. What happens when antitrust stops being polite, and starts getting real?
MATT STOLLER
OCT 11, 2024

“Where we think it really harms our ability to innovate on behalf of our users, we are going to be vigorous in defending ourselves.” - Google CEO Sundar Pichai

What happens when antitrust becomes a reality for a company’s executives? For eight years or so, Google has been in the cross-hairs of public opinion, with lots of chatter about their monopoly. But it’s all been theoretical, just some Congressional hearings with grandstanding politicians, mean stories in the jealous New York Times, complaints from rivals and customers, tweets from Trump, etc. Google leaders and stakeholders could waive that stuff away, pretend they wouldn’t face consequences, that they could just set lawyers on the problem, and float above it all.

And that wasn’t a crazy view. In fact, it would have been weird if they didn’t think that. No large tech firm has even faced a monopolization challenge since the 1990s, let alone lost one. So in the mid-2010s, when the chatter and investigation started, well, any consequences would be a long way off. In 2020, when the first antitrust cases were filed, it wouldn’t seem to matter either. The precedent was on the side of Google, and even if it wasn’t, it would be years before anyone at Google would have to face the music.

[Patton French]

29. He's a Trump apologist who wrote a book attacking President Biden's mental acuity.

That's pretty much all you need to know.

[jfz9580m]

30. Oh that guy

Last edited Wed Oct 29, 2025, 01:01 PM - Edit history (2)

Thanks.. I read about that book. Yeah he is an asshole. Lol..I never remember his name. Maybe after this I will..

Edit: That Biden debate yeah. I never ended up watching it. I had a mock lab meeting that day (well not in the US..where I live in the global south) and I stumbled very badly while presenting. I always remember that day because of that. It would have been between 4:00 and 10:00 am (to leave it hazy) your time on that same day.
I am not prone to conspiracy theory and I don’t think stuff like the Havana Syndrome has ever been proven to be a real thing. But well..our tech oligarchs are so sloppy, I did wonder if their rubbish tech can worsen concentration issues.

I usually shy away from such speculation: 1) as a scientist ; 2) as a medical marijuana user who doesn’t want to be labeled a paranoid schizophrenic and 3) most importantly not wanting to add to the stupid din of loose correlations and conspiratorial trash online.

I have had difficulty concentrating all my life. It has been getting worse. I keep telling myself that I am not trying hard enough and my money is still on that. But I am sensitive to noise and lately it bothers me more. I think the best bet is try and monitor day to day variation.

I have mixed feelings about that type of speculation - for one thing it is just bad science to refine too much on coincidences etc. Don’t want to sew a vest on to a button.
Otoh sometimes I find that hunches can have a basis in something real and we are in an environment where these robber baron types (and their shills like this Tapper jerk) gloss over inconvenient realities and represent them as non-issues.

That abundance Yimby type (which this jerk Tapper seems to be adjacent to) tends to Pooh Pooh all environmental concerns ..same basic worldview as that ass Musk. Ignore the effects of light, sound/noise pollution and just build..

But then there are also a lot of cranks who make absurd claims which muddy the water. I have generally viewed the flouting of the limits to growth thanks to human overpopulation everywhere and consumerism the biggest issues typically.
And that all these other things are secondary nuisances.

However if something was causing serious attention issues and it wasn’t like Trumps bs about windmills causing cancer, but a more substantial complaint..like a noise pollution complaint..
Well..don’t know. And at this point I am so sick of being treated as if I was like a “targeted individual” who thinks “gangstalking” is real rather than someone who is only saying:
1) these systems and shills are sloppy and prone to deregulation and casually normalizing atrocious stuff and expecting us to suck it up and 2) systems of trust are broken.

But then I don’t know. I look gloomily at stuff like this and despair at it ever being feasible to untangle a ball of pollution, corruption, mental stresses, type 1 errors, human malice, junk tech and overcrowding etc into their separate things and effects etc:
https://www.audubon.org/news/no-5g-radio-waves-do-not-kill-birds

Certainly people like Tapper, Trump and our awful tech oligarchs thrive in this setting.

It’s not really a scientific statement so much as about the erosion of public trust in governments when they fail to reign in industry, defense contracting etc. It makes separating legitimate safety and security issues from theatre; protest from distractions etc etc impossible.
Too many damn people..all other things aside. Makes everything more chaotic..and these assholes thrive in chaos at the expense of everything worthwhile.

[mobeau69]

42. "Learnt"? What is that?

[Stacey Grove]

44. It's the past tense of the verb "to learn"

[jfz9580m]

47. Apparently it is British

A fun fact I just learnt (!) thanks to the query.

https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4965/when-do-you-use-learnt-and-when-learned#4966

Merriam-Webster marks learnt as "chiefly British", and Wiktionary as "UK", adding that learned is the "Standard US English spelling". Quoting a linguist's comment from elsewhere,

[The Corpus of Historical American English] shows that learned has always been more common than learnt in American English. At least, since 1810.
So it's not like learnt is completely unheard of in Americal English, but learned has always been more popular, and according to the COHA timetable, the usage of learnt has been on a more or less steady decline since 1820.

Between ignorance over who Jake Tapper is and learnt versus learned imagine if the world could see my actual failures in my field . ;-/ Oh well..

Well Jake Tapper is worse so there..seriously that thing of his is possibly the worst article I have ever read. I can see why he is a Trump apologist. The man seems like an absolute ass. He is the buffer between many of us who are mediocre and not proudly while not getting away with it.

[orleans]

57. jake tapper is a douchebag:

[Phoenix61]

7. She's wonderful! 😀

[duhneece]

24. She's definitely up there with AOC and Jasmine

…. But hasn’t served long enough for many folks to know her. She is wonderful and I’m not saying that because she’s a New Mexican.

[UpInArms]

8. Project 2025

https://www.25and.me/?topics=3#3

Food Assistance
Project 2025 will...

...apply cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). This means that many people who need help buying food would no longer get money from the government to buy food. [298]

...require states to implement work requirements for SNAP recipients. This means that people who are able to work would have to get a job or do some type of work in order to get food stamps. [299]

...eliminate broad-based categorical eligibility. This would make it harder for people to get food stamps because they would have to meet more requirements to be eligible. [300]

...eliminate the heat-and-eat loophole. This would make it harder for people to get the full amount of food stamps they are eligible for. [301]

...reform the Thrifty Food Plan. This could lead to people getting less money in food stamps because the government would change how it calculates the amount of money people need to buy food. [300]

...eliminate CEP. This would mean that some children who currently get free school meals would have to pay for them. [303]

[LittleGirl]

38. SNAP users "have to get a job"

what does that mean? are you supposed to take a gun to a company and force them to hire you?

Get a job? Where? Doing what? Do resumes even work anymore? I haven't worked for nearly 20 years because I made a terrible mistake. I married my spouse at age 47, moved to Europe and then when I came back, couldn't even get an interview. I have a bachelor's degree and 25 years of IT experience. Age discrimination is alive and well in this country and if you're disabled, then you're S.O.L.

These politicians haven't truly worked all year and they want us all to get a job? F off.

[Jbraybarten]

15. Good for her. Enough with the media downplaying or otherwise enabling the GOP's bullshit

[oldmanlynn]

21. We need to start kind of targeting the press

And what I mean by that is when they come up and they start spewing Republican talking points we need to go in and say that they’re pushing Republican talking points and are they part of the Republican party and is it because they’re part of mainstream media that they’re pushing Republican talking points and that they need to focus more on the truth in the facts. That’s what I would tell him every damn time.

[Abstractartist]

22. Target the press?

That’s easy, stop watching the msm. Cancel ANY AND ALL digital content, stay off ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, CNN, ETC. Stop buying newspapers and magazines including local that support republican candidates and their political allies. The way to hurt them is to hurt them….. in their wallets.

[Goonch]

26. ;-{)

[Clouds Passing]

27. That's my Rep! So proud of her! Melanie Stansbury, remember that name!

And btw, eff Tappetty tappin tapper, an interrupting bully loser!

[Prince99]

28. Marching orders

Sure seems like this is all coordinated with the media. Starting last night and scanning news articles online this morning, there appears to be an uptick in Dems clashing or Dems on the hot seat regarding the shutdown. Can't find a single article on Reps.

[Ritabert]

46. Why isn't Tapper working on an expose of Trump's health?

His performance in Japan yesterday should be investigated.

[SocialDemocrat61]

51. He's working on a book about the

Bad leaders during World War II. Specifically, FDR for hiding that he was in a wheelchair and Churchill for drinking too much.

[Ritabert]

75. LOL! Sounds about right.

[BlueHurricane]

48. Tapper is a hack

Tapper seems to treat women politicians more aggressively than men. One time he interviewed Pelosi, was just rude to her and of course Pelosi didn’t take it and was great but I was like, ok I’m done with him. Didn’t watch him again. All tough and pushy with women and noticeably more respectful with men.

Melanie Stansbury is amazing and obviously cares about her constituents who are lucky to have her.

[MorbidButterflyTat]

67. Because he is a bully and a coward

And an asshole.

[Tadams01KC]

49. She is good!

She did a great job. This knows this SNAp issue inside and out

[JustAnotherGen]

50. The Propagandists

Went to prison too after the fall of the Third Reich and Mussolini Governments.

[BigDemVoter]

52. I HATE Tapper as much as I hate the

enabling Congressional repigs.

[Blue Owl]

56. I hope he gets E Coli poisoning from licking tRump's toilet

[MorbidButterflyTat]

68. Whoa!

[Cha]

63. TY KICK For Rep. Melanie Stansbury, NM!