On Tuesday, Jake Tapper’s "The Lead" did something which just about no one was expecting. In an effort to equate President Trump’s tweets on "The Squad" to the level of bigotry displayed by white nationalists such as Richard Spencer, Tapper’s show aired a segment which partially featured… Richard Spencer.
The segment displayed a clip from an interview Sara Sidner conducted in which Spencer says Trump is merely running a “con game.”
“He gives us nothing outside of racist tweets,” Spencer said. “And by racist tweets, I mean tweets that are meaningless and cheap and express the kind of sentiments you might hear from your drunk uncle while he’s watching 'Hannity.'”
While CNN considered the Spencer interview a damning and undeniable condemnation of Trump’s motives, others have called out the network for hosting Spencer on their platform, claiming the interview gave Spencer a platform of perceived legitimacy rather than impugning the character of the President.