A former viewer of Jake Tapper’s CNN program, expressing deep disappointment, publicly criticized the veteran journalist for publishing a book that portrays President Joe Biden in an unflattering light and alleges cognitive decline. The viewer argued that Tapper should instead be scrutinizing what she described as the “erratic” behavior of President Donald Trump. Tapper defended his stance, attributing Trump’s behavior more to “personality” traits than to “cognitive decline.”

On a C-SPAN call-in show (video below), the viewer, identified by the name “Sarah,” told Tapper, “right now, I really don’t like you.”

She accused Tapper of doing a “disservice” to President Biden, “and also to the American people.”

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“When are you going to examine, you know, what is going on with Trump?” she asked.

“Joe Biden conducted himself for four years, taking care of the United States. He took meetings, he went overseas, he negotiated with other leaders.”

But President Trump, Sarah said, “has been pure chaos, which indicates to me that there is something wrong with him.”

“We will never get a straight answer on his medical examination. What medication he is on,” she charged.

She also accused Tapper of going after President Biden “with a vengeance,” and expressed that she is “very disappointed” in the reporter.

“I enjoyed watching your show, but not anymore,” she added.

The caller urged Tapper to write another book, focused on President Trump, “and how erratic and what he is doing—calling out the National Guard, the Marines and everybody. When has a President ever done that? It is pure erratic.”

Tapper, who sat through the 75-seconds of criticism largely stone-faced, responded by saying that on CNN he does cover President Donald Trump “every day for two hours, every day from 5 to 7 Eastern.”

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He insisted that they “cover all the things you talk about, in terms of the president, the current president’s behavior. We have covered times that he has confused Nancy Pelosi with Nikki Haley.”

But Tapper appeared to disagree with Sarah’s perception that “there is something wrong” with President Trump. Despite his age (79) and reported lifestyle, Tapper insisted, “I think some of the questions about President Trump’s behavior have more to do with personality than with cognitive decline.”

“But obviously,” he continued, “whatever lessons we’ve learned from covering President Biden, we would apply to any politician, any future politician or present politician.”

So I’m sorry, if I’m disappointing you by covering President Biden, but journalists, we are supposed to cover stories that we think the American people have a right to know, that we think will enhance their understanding of how the country’s run, and I think Alex and I are proud of this book.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

C-SPAN caller to Jake Tapper: “Right now I really don’t like you … When are you going to examine what’s going on with Trump? … this president has been pure chaos, which indicates to me that there is something wrong with him. We will never get a straight answer on his medical… pic.twitter.com/juTOEOOL6z

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 17, 2025

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Just days ago, President Donald Trump suggested that his administration would stop targeting undocumented immigrants working in essential sectors like agriculture and hospitality for detention and deportation—proclaiming, “Changes are coming!”

President Trump, in his social media post on Thursday, had said that many undocumented farm workers are “very good, long time workers,” who are “almost impossible to replace.”  He added: “We must protect our Farmers.”

Reports suggest Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins was behind the effort to convince Trump to carve out an exemption from detention and deportation for agriculture and hospitality workers.

But on Monday, the pause on immigration sweeps at farms, hotels, and restaurants, was swiftly ended.

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“Officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including its Homeland Security Investigations division, told agency leaders in a call Monday that agents must continue conducting immigration raids at agricultural businesses, hotels and restaurants,” The Washington Post reported. And specifically, “ICE agents have been told to continue conducting enforcement operations at agricultural businesses despite concerns about negative effects on the food industry.”

A Trump Department of Homeland Security official said, “Worksite enforcement remains a cornerstone of our efforts to safeguard public safety, national security and economic stability.”

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, the architect of the White House’s child and family separation policy during the first Trump term, has demanded agents step up arrests to 3,000 per day, even though ICE is currently $1 billion over budget.

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On Sunday night, President Trump announced a new crackdown targeting undocumented immigrants exclusively in Democratic-led strongholds, declaring that blue cities “are the core of the Democrat Power Center.”

Claiming that ICE agents every day face “threats from Radical Democrat Politicians,” he announced “the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History,” before baselessly claiming voter fraud.

But support for Trump’s highly-controversial immigration policies is weakening, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll: 49% disapprove, 44% approve.

“Polling overwhelming shows strong support for providing a path to permanent legal status for America’s farmworkers,” wrote attorney Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, on Monday. “In fact, not a single poll shows majority support for deporting them.”

Critics of the new policy, which includes targeting farm, hotel, and restaurant workers for deportation, are blasting the Trump administration.

“Stephen Miller gets his way,” Reichlin-Melnick noted. “Just a few days after Ag. Sec. Rollins convinced Trump to briefly back down, the quotas and indiscriminate raids are back. Farms, restaurants, and hotels are now subject to ICE raids again, with intense pressure on ICE to hit 3,000 arrests a day.”

Dean Baker, a senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, responded, “That’s what happens when we have a reality TV show star as president. Who are we deporting? Find out after this commercial. What’s the tariff on country X, stay tuned. And which country are we bombing? Just keep watching!”

The United Farm Workers Union blasted the decision, and, like many on social media, questioned who’s making decisions in the White House:

“A ‘shift’ never happened. A chaotic raid at a worksite and a warrantless sweep in our communities have the same outcome. B——- rhetoric aside, they’re hunting us down while we’re trying to feed you. Who’s actually in charge?”

California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, responding to The Washington Post’s report, wrote: “Looks like Stephen Miller is the boss, after all.”

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This article has been updated to include remarks from Gov. Newsom

Image via Reuters

House Republicans have come under sustained fire for their budget bill, which would deliver sweeping cuts to the social safety net—slashing hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid and Medicare. While many expected Senate Republicans to soften those reductions, the Senate’s version—released late Monday afternoon—goes even further, deepening the House’s Medicaid cuts and raising the debt ceiling by $5 trillion, rather than the $4 trillion proposed in the House bill.

Politico reports that the decision to squeeze Medicaid for even more money, to help pay for President Donald Trump’s tax cuts that largely benefit the wealthy, is “already setting off shockwaves through Capitol Hill,” and would be “a huge departure from the House-passed bill.”

The budget legislation, officially President Donald Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” also makes permanent his tax cuts from his first term, effectively representing a multi-trillion-dollar expense.

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The Hill reports that the bill also includes Trump’s campaign promise of “no tax on tips.” That is a controversial proposition among critics who say it could open the floodgates for high-wage earners as it could exclude bonuses from taxation.

The GOP Senate’s version also includes provisions that would make it more difficult for Medicaid users to access benefits, by imposing stricter work and reporting requirements, while reducing the amounts the federal government gives to the states for its share of Medicaid payments.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected that the House’s version of the bill would increase the number of uninsured people by an additional 10.9 million people.

Polls have shown Americans oppose the House version by about a 2-1 margin, largely because of the hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to Medicaid.

U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) on Monday called portions of the Senate bill “meanspirited,” and “political buffoonery,” according to CNN’s Sarah Ferris.

Michael Linden, a former executive associate director at the Biden White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) summed up the bill: “Huge cuts to health care so that rich people can get another tax cut.”

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Image via Reuters