CNN’s Tapper: ‘Mercurial’ Trump Is ‘Untethered to Facts’

Monday on CNN’s “The Lead,” anchor Jake Tapper called President Donald Trump a “mercurial boss, untethered to facts.”

Tapper said, “As President Trump preparing to kick off his 2020 campaign launch with a rally tomorrow in Orlando, Florida, the campaign is simultaneously making some major personnel changes as a nod to the president’s difficulty hearing negative news about himself. The president’s re-election efforts have been overshadowed in recent days by some bad internal poll numbers for the president and cascade of lies about those bad numbers. President Trump again today warning his followers on Twitter, not to believe any, quote, ‘fake polls’ showing him trailing any of the Democrats. But the president’s definition of fake polls apparently means polls he does not like. ”

He continued, “Sources tell CNN the president’s been angry for days over the leaking of internal polling data from March showing the president trailing Joe Biden in hypothetical match-ups in key battleground states. The New York Times first reported the existence of these ugly numbers followed by CNN, which was then followed by this lie.”

In a video clip, Trump said, “They were fake polls that were released by somebody that is — it is ridiculous. No, we are winning in every single state that we polled.”

Tapper said, “That is not true. And after various news media obtained the information from the actual internal polling data, the Trump campaign admitted that the polling existed though they called it old and out of context. Yesterday CNN learned three pollsters attached to the Trump campaign were being fired. Now it is unclear if any of those being let go had anything to do with the leaking of the data. One person familiar with the situation said the firing is less about the polls but more about pacifying the president. This is a theme we’ve seen throughout the Trump presidency. Officials are unsure of how to deal with a mercurial boss untethered to facts.

He added, “The New York Times is even reporting top intelligence, and military officials were so worried about the president’s reaction to the U.S. government escalating U.S. cyberattacks against Russia, concerned the president might countermand the operation or disclose it to foreign leaders, they hesitated to tell the president about it in detail even though he is, you know, the Commander-in-Chief.”

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