It's said that when someone makes a positive or neutral statement, then follows it with a "but," what follows negates what went before, and reflects the speaker's real opinion.
Thus it was that on Sunday's edition of CNN's State of the Union, host Jake Tapper three times mentioned that Russian attacks killed five Ukrainians after President Trump's meeting with Putin ended without a ceasefire.
In his final mention, Tapper said to Mike Pence:
"I'm not blaming it on President Trump, it's obviously President Putin's fault. But, if the ceasefire had happened on Friday, those five Ukrainians would be alive."
Gotcha, Jake. You're not blaming Trump for five dead Ukrainians, but . . . you'll let viewers read between the lines: yeah, it kinda is Trump's failure. Journalists get to judge presidents, but they don't like the situation reversed.
Tapper should know better. In fact, he does know better.
Biden's precipitous withdrawal from Afghanistan led to the deaths of 13 U.S. service members at Abbey Gate at the Kabul International Airport.
In response, Tapper made a scathing statement, condemning Biden's rejection of a detailed Army report blaming the Biden administration for ignoring warnings of what was happening on the ground.
Tapper said he could not understand why Biden didn't take the report more seriously, and contemplate "the obvious failures of his administration--failures that cost lives." Tapper dismissed Biden's claim to care about the troops as "just words."
So, since Tapper knows what real presidential responsibility for deaths abroad looks like, why would he slyly suggest that Trump was in some way to blame for those Ukrainian deaths?
Here's the transcript.
CNN
State of the Union
8/17/25
9:05 am EDTSTEVE WITKOFF: We are intent on trying to hammer out a peace deal that ends the fighting permanently very, very quickly, quicker than a ceasefire.
JAKE TAPPER: How would it be quicker than a ceasefire? I understand the idea of like a larger peace deal is an important point.
But it was President Trump that had said that he wanted a ceasefire agreed to at the meeting on Friday. And he didn't get it. And there are now five Ukrainians who are dead because the Russians continue to bombard Ukraine.
. . .
[Addressing Mike Pence] As you noted, there was no ceasefire agreed to. President Trump seemed to indicate before the summit that that had to happen, or he said there would be very severe consequences. Since the summit, he's dropped demands for an immediate ceasefire.
Five Ukrainians were killed overnight.
. . .
Can you explain, or do you understand at all, how the summit could end without a ceasefire agreed to, and that would be acceptable?
I mean, there are five Ukrainians who are now dead. I'm not blaming it on President Trump. It's obviously President Putin's fault. But, if the ceasefire had happened on Friday, those five Ukrainians would be alive.
