ELDER: On CNN, Democrat ‘Election Deniers’ get a pass

Comparable or higher percentages of Democrats expressed doubts about the legitimacy of Trump's 2016 win compared to Republican doubts about 2020.

Published Apr 26, 2026  •  3 minute read

U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden talk to moderator and CNN anchor Jake Tapper following the CNN Presidential Debate at the CNN Studios in Atlanta, Thursday, June 27, 2024. Photo by Justin Sullivan /Getty Images

CNN’s Jake Tapper recently denounced Trump administration judicial nominees because, at their confirmation hearing, they refused to say “yes” when asked, “Did Biden win the 2020 election?” Instead, the nominees replied, “Biden was CERTIFIED as the winner.”

Article content

For Tapper, this was an unacceptable dodge. He said: “What oath is going to be administered in those judges’ courtrooms? Will it be, ‘Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God … unless they are truths that offend Donald Trump?'”

Article content

Article content

On MS Now, co-host Michael Steele, the former head of the Republican National Committee, argued the nominees’ failure to answer “yes” disqualified them from serving. He said: “If you cannot ask a fundamental question, right, this is a civics test, did the president of the United States lose the election in 2020, and if you do that kind of an answer, then you are not fit to serve in government, period. Because no matter what else you say or do after that, it exposes who you are, and it exposes how you will lead.”

Let’s set aside questions about the 2020 election integrity in Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. California took away attorney John Eastman’s license to practice law because Eastman represented Donald Trump and raised factual and legal questions about the 2020 election. If you consider Eastman’s objections and legal arguments devoid of merit, please watch Eastman’s American Freedom Alliance speech on Rumble.

Article content

Article content

Did Tapper or any other CNN “reporters” ask former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former President Jimmy Carter, former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe or former Vice President Kamala Harris — to name a few “election-denying” Democrats — “Did Donald Trump win the 2016 election?”

About the 2016 election, former Obama Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson testified that, while the Russians tried to manipulate voting machines, there is no evidence that a single vote tally was changed. Not one. Yet, a 2018 YouGov poll found 66% of Democrats believe Russia “changed vote tallies to elect Trump in 2016.”

CNN politics editor Chris Cillizza wrote: “76% of self-identified Republicans in a new national Quinnipiac University poll. That’s the number of Republicans who said they believe there was ‘widespread fraud in the 2020 election.'” But what about Democrats and their concern about the integrity of the 2016 election?

Article content

Gallup poll

A 2018 Gallup poll found 78% of Democrats believe that Russian interference in 2016 “changed the outcome of the election” in favour of Trump. Never mind that Johnson testified there’s no way of knowing whether the interference altered the outcome. And a New York University study on the effect of Russian interference found “no measurable changes in attitudes, polarization, or voting behavior among those exposed to this foreign influence campaign.”

The bottom line is that comparable or higher percentages of Democrats expressed doubts about the legitimacy of Trump’s 2016 win compared to Republican doubts about 2020. Furthermore, House Democrats have disputed the certification of EVERY Republican presidential victory since 2000.

In January 2001, nearly a dozen black House Democrats voted against certifying the election results of 2000. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) said in a joint session of Congress: “The objection is in writing, and I do not care that it is not signed by a member of the Senate (as is necessary to force a Senate vote on the challenge.)”

Article content

As for the 2004 election, Jan. 6 Committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) in January 2005 joined 30 other House Democrats and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) to object to the certification of Ohio’s presidential election results, claiming “voter suppression.”

As for 2016, Hillary Clinton consistently called the presidential election “stolen” and described President Trump as “illegitimate.” Jimmy Carter, in 2019, said: “I think a full investigation would show that Trump didn’t actually win the election in 2016. He lost the election, and he was put into office because the Russians interfered on his behalf.” New York Attorney General Letitia James said she “will never be afraid to challenge this illegitimate president.”

One more thing about “election interference.” There are polling data suggesting the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story — in which CNN, particularly Brian Stelter, whom you rehired, was complicit — may have changed the outcome of the 2020 election.

All of this makes Tapper looks like fake news, a hypocrite and a partisan.

– Larry Elder is a best-selling author and nationally syndicated radio talk-show host

RECOMMENDED VIDEO

Article content