JD Vance launches fiery tirade against CNN’s Jake Tapper over Trump’s ‘enemy from within’

JD Vance spoke with CNN’s Jake Tapper this weekend to combat claims about his running mate’s rhetoric.

During the Saturday sit-down, Tapper, the network’s State of the Union host, questioned the Republican candidate about Donald Trump, mainly comments made to Joe Rogan last Friday.

There, the presidential candidate insisted that “we have people who are really bad, people who I really think want to make this country unsuccessful.” He then labeled the group – which many thought was left-wing – as “the enemy from within.”

Vance, in turn, claimed the anchor was taking the conservative’s comments out of context as he tried to address a theory about why major Republicans are turning their backs on him.

He accused Republican Trump critics like Liz Cheney and General John Kelly as liars and launched into a defensive, combative tirade.

Scroll down for video:

“Is that the game you’re playing?” Vance, 40, said Sunday in response to Tapper’s “enemy from within” comments.

“I’m not playing games!” the host fired back, at one point laughing off Vance’s conspiracy about his colleague’s old allies.

“He said he wanted to use the military to go after far-left lunatics who are rising up,” Vance then explained.

‘He also called them the enemy within. He said separately, in a completely different context and in a completely different conversation, that Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff were a threat to this country.”

Unconvinced, Tapper continued to claim that Trump was referring to members of the opposing party when he made the comment.

‘The enemy was inside!’ Tapper said, pointing to progressives and networks like CNN.

“He said they were the enemy within!” he continued, leading to a back-and-forth between the two parties.

The subject, of course, was the true context of Trump’s comments, which Tapper said Vance was trying to downplay with his characterization.

“Now you’re giving a very narrow definition of what he said, and that’s not what he said!” Tapper insisted during the interview.

“That’s not what he said.”

Vance also said he agreed with Trump that some Democrats posed a greater threat to the US than foreign dignitaries.

“What he said, and I agree with that, what he said is the biggest threat we have in our country is not a foreign adversary because we can handle these guys,” Vance said.

‘We can handle foreign conflicts. We can’t handle it – look, under Nancy Pelosi’s long life of public leadership, the United States has gone from being the world’s preeminent industrial power to second only to China.

“That really belongs on Nancy Pelosi’s shoulders.”

At another point, Tapper responded by questioning the VP candidate about criticism from former staffers who have left the Trump camp over the years — including accusations that the Republican is “a fascist” and a threat to democracy.

Retired Gen. John Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff, made such claims last week, paving the way for the discussion about Rogan.

Making matters worse, Liz Cheney, the Republican daughter of the late Vice President Dick Cheney, launched similar claims days earlier, before suggesting on Sunday that former Trump administration figures who, like Kelly, have spoken out against Trump “know ‘ that he ‘has no conscience’.

“You’re taking words out of context,” an audibly frustrated Vance said in response to Tapper – who ultimately laughed in his face.

“If you wanted to put up a video and actually put it in context, I think the American people would realize that Donald Trump is a lot more reasonable than people like Liz Cheney, who like to lie to us. war.’

Shortly after the interview aired, the former congresswoman spoke to Fox News, where she reiterated that she was voting for Kamala Harris — hours after appearing on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” to share similar sentiments.

“I don’t think it’s about putting aside convictions,” she told host Margaret Brennan when asked how she put aside her pro-life views to vote for a progressive like Harris.

“I think it’s about looking at reality based on what’s happened since Roe was overturned.”

She was one of 10 Republicans in the House of Representatives who voted to impeach Trump in the wake of the January 6, 2021, insurrection, after which she was dismissed from her role as chair of the House Republican Conference.

As for Kelly, a 45-year-old Marine veteran who rose to become a four-star general, he stepped down as White House chief of staff in the early days of 2019.

In an interview with The New York Times published Tuesday, he said his old boss met the definition of a fascist.

“He certainly prefers the dictatorial approach to government,” Kelly, 74, told the Times.

“I think he would love to be just like he was when he was in business,” he added. “He could tell people to do things and they would do them without worrying too much about what was legal and what wasn’t.”

Trump went on to denounce his longtime staffer as a “degenerate” and a “low life” in a post on Truth Social.

“This man had two qualities that do not go well together,” he wrote. ‘He was tough and stupid. John Kelly has a low life.”

At the time of writing, the election is just over a week away.