Stephen A's Take: Stephen A reacts to confrontational interview between Megyn Kelly and Jake Tapper.

Summary

The Stephen A. Smith Show – Episode Summary: Stephen A's Take on Megyn Kelly vs. Jake Tapper Interview

Podcast Information:

• Title: The Stephen A. Smith Show
• Hosts: Stephen A. Smith and iHeartPodcasts
• Episode: Stephen A's Take: Stephen A reacts to confrontational interview between Megyn Kelly and Jake Tapper
• Release Date: May 22, 2025

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Introduction

In this compelling episode of The Stephen A. Smith Show, host Stephen A. Smith delves into the heated and highly publicized confrontation between renowned journalists Megyn Kelly and Jake Tapper. The discussion centers around Tapper's new book, Original Sin, co-authored with Alex Thompson, which scrutinizes former President Joe Biden's cognitive abilities and alleges a deliberate obfuscation of his mental lapses by his close associates and family.

Overview of Original Sin and Its Claims

At the onset of the episode, Stephen A. Smith introduces Original Sin, highlighting the book's controversial examination of President Biden's mental health. Smith notes that the book has stirred significant anticipation and debate, particularly regarding whether CNN and its anchors, including Jake Tapper and Megyn Kelly, may have withheld critical information to boost book sales.

Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s Perspective

Key Excerpts from the Interview:

• Jake Tapper ([02:35]):

  "In my ecosphere we were covering all of these. It wasn't just falling down, it was getting lost. It was some of the stuff you report in your book was we knew and we were reporting on like the multi jump cuts in the videos of him where it was obvious he couldn't get through a one minute take."

• Alex Thompson ([03:15]):

  "The Biden White House did not like me. Okay. This is. I do not have great connections with the Biden White House."

Tapper and Thompson discuss their extensive research, citing over 200 sources and presenting evidence of Biden's cognitive decline. They accuse the White House of attempting to conceal these issues and criticize CNN for not adequately addressing the emerging stories at the time.

Stephen A. Smith’s Reaction and Analysis

Praise for Megyn Kelly:

Stephen A. Smith begins by commending Megyn Kelly for her journalistic integrity and forthrightness. He emphasizes her commitment to facts and transparency, particularly in her relationships with prominent figures such as Pete Hegseth.

Stephen A. Smith ([04:33]): "I've been Watching her for years. I respect the hell out of that woman. She does not play. She does not pull punches. She gives you facts. She lives on them."

Criticism of Jake Tapper and CNN:

Transitioning to Jake Tapper and CNN, Smith expresses disappointment and skepticism. He accuses Tapper and the network of allowing a protective narrative around Biden's mental health, questioning their commitment to unbiased reporting.

Stephen A. Smith ([07:00]): "I called out Joe Biden and the diminished mental acuity and a lack of ferv and the incapacitation that so many that people were alluding to. I called it out a year in advance. I got eviscerated."

Smith further critiques Tapper's handling of dissenting voices within CNN, suggesting that political loyalties may have compromised journalistic integrity.

Stephen A. Smith ([08:12]): "The Democratic Party was demanding that you flow with and you vibe with what they wanted you to. And if you did it, they were ready to have your ass canceled."

Broader Critique of the Democratic Party:

Expanding his critique, Smith discusses the broader implications of what he perceives as cancel culture and duplicity within the Democratic Party. He draws parallels to high-profile cases like Andrew Cuomo and Al Franken to illustrate his point about the party's willingness to discard its own members while maintaining a facade.

Stephen A. Smith ([12:03]): "The fact remains that there were people... It ain't about Trump. It's not about Kamala Harris. It's about that party. From woke culture to cancel culture."

Concerns for the Future:

Smith voices concerns about the potential political ramifications, including the impact on upcoming midterm elections and the 2028 presidency. He warns that the revelations from Tapper and Thompson's book could cause "irreparable harm" to the Democratic Party.

Stephen A. Smith ([14:07]): "I think irreparable harm is going to be done to the Democrats. I think the midterms are in jeopardy. I think the presidency in 2028 is in jeopardy."

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Stephen A. Smith ([07:00]):

  "I called out Joe Biden and the diminished mental acuity and a lack of ferv and the incapacitation that so many that people were alluding to. I called it out a year in advance. I got eviscerated. Eviscerated."

• Jake Tapper ([02:35]):

  "In my ecosphere we were covering all of these... some of the stuff you report in your book was we knew and we were reporting on... it was clear to us that he was using teleprompter."

• Stephen A. Smith ([04:33]):

  "I respect the hell out of that woman. She does not play. She does not pull punches. She gives you facts."

• Stephen A. Smith ([12:03]):

  "It ain't about Trump. It's not about Kamala Harris. It's about that party."

Conclusions and Implications

Stephen A. Smith concludes the episode by reiterating his skepticism towards CNN and Jake Tapper's portrayal of Biden, suggesting that political biases may have influenced the coverage. He underscores the importance of holding media organizations accountable and encourages listeners to critically assess the information presented by major news outlets.

Stephen A. Smith ([15:16]): "I'm just saying it's gonna be real interesting to watch what happens."

Smith's analysis serves as a call to action for listeners to seek the truth and remain vigilant against potential media and political manipulation. He anticipates significant fallout for the Democratic Party and media figures involved, positioning the episode as a critical commentary on contemporary political and media landscapes.

Final Thoughts

This episode of The Stephen A. Smith Show provides a robust critique of media practices and political strategies, particularly focusing on the intersection of journalism and partisan politics. Stephen A. Smith delivers a passionate and incisive analysis, enriched with firsthand insights and strategic questioning, making it a must-listen for audiences interested in the evolving dynamics of American politics and media.

Transcript

[Stephen A. Smith]

You're listening to an iHeart podcast.

[Megyn Kelly]

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[Ryan Seacrest]

This podcast is sponsored by Talkspace. May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and Talkspace, the leading virtual therapy provider, is telling everyone let's face it in therapy behind by talking or texting with a supportive licensed therapist at Talkspace, you can face whatever is holding you back. Whether it's mental health symptoms, relationship drama, past trauma, bad habits or another challenge that you need support to work through, it's easy to sign up. Just go to talkspace.com and you'll be paired with a provider, typically within 48 hours. And because you'll meet your therapist online, you don't have to take time off work or arrange childcare. You'll meet on your schedule.

[Megyn Kelly]

Please.

[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Stephen A. Smith]

After a long buildup of promotion and leaked excerpts, a new book by journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson is shedding new light on the cognitive decline of former President Joe Biden. The book, entitled Original Sin, depicts alleged attempts by the president's family and close aides to shield his mental lapses from the public. This may be one of the most highly anticipated political book releases in some time, but it has many, including the Daily Show's Jon Stewart and the women of the View, questioning If one of CNN's lead anchors was withholding information critical to the public for the benefit of selling copies. Another one of those people was Megyn Kelly. Please take a look at this over here.

[Jake Tapper]

In my ecosphere we were covering all of these. It wasn't just falling down, it was getting lost. It was some of the stuff you report in your book was we knew and we were reporting on like the multi jump cuts in the videos of him where it was obvious he couldn't get through a one minute take. It was clear to us that he was using teleprompter in. And. And there was some reporting on that at the time. All of which the White House was denying. Now with the current White House. I have some connections with the Joe Biden White House. I had none. But you did. There was an attempted cover up. It could only ever work if you allowed it. If the press allowed it. Some of us tried not to and some of us were complicit.

[Alex Thompson]

The Biden White House did not like me. Okay. This is. I do not have great connections with the Biden White House.

[Jake Tapper]

Well, clearly you have a lot of sources. You say you Talked to over 200 sources for this book.

[Alex Thompson]

This was after the election.

[Jake Tapper]

Could have called and worked.

[Alex Thompson]

I know. That's the point is that they were not being honest. That's the point.

[Jake Tapper]

That was the Wall Street Journal. Get it? In June of 2024. And Jake Tapper and CNN couldn't find sources for this story. Then before he dropped out.

[Alex Thompson]

Annie Linsky and Siobhan Hughes did an amazing job in their reporting. And they should be heralded. And I heralded them. I had them on my show right after the debate to talk about their great reporting. But Annie Lynskey.

[Jake Tapper]

But you did not put them on when they published that story, which was before the debate.

[Alex Thompson]

Correct. I don't know what the booking situation was, but it wasn't because I didn't want them. I'm sure I said that day. Let's. I'm sure I said that day, let's book that. Did they?

[Jake Tapper]

Yeah. You. You put on a Democrat and, and you allowed the Democrat to rip out the report as a Rupert Murdoch sponsored hit piece.

[Alex Thompson]

No, no, no.

[Jake Tapper]

It's just.

[Alex Thompson]

Megan, that's gonna do. If we're gonna. If we're gonna do this, let's just stick to the facts here, okay? When there is a damaging report.

[Jake Tapper]

That's what I've been doing all along.

[Alex Thompson]

I'm talking about what you mean.

[Jake Tapper]

The biggest story of the century when it comes to presidential politics and one of.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Ouch. Let me say this, ladies and gentlemen, just as an aside. I've been a guest on Megyn Kelly's show at least a couple of times. I'll probably be back on in a week or so. You don't say to Megyn Kelly, let's stick to the facts. I've seen on Real Time with Bill Maher. I saw her there. I've been Watching her for years. I respect the hell out of that woman. She does not play. She does not pull punches. She gives you facts. She lives on them. And on top of it all, when there are personal relationships involved, as was the case with Pete Hegseth en route to him becoming our Secretary of Defense, she was very transparent about her relationship with him. She does not play. She is not a joke. She is legit. I respect the hell out of that woman. I really do. And to say, let's stick to the facts. I would like to say Jake Tapper was in trouble then, but it was actually before then, but certainly at that particular moment in time. He's supposed to be coming on this show soon. I hope I do half as good of a job as she did because she had it all. The fact remains that there were people.

Who had come on CNN who had.

Appeared on Jake Tapper show like Lara Trump did, and he summarily dismissed them, which he openly admits.

He confessed to having a private conversation in the aftermath of learning the facts.

And essentially apologizing to Lara Trump at that particular moment in time. Does that make up for how dismissive.

He was towards her?

I don't know.

I would encourage everybody to go and.

Watch that interview from start to finish.

I would encourage everybody to look at what she was saying and to really, really get into the weeds of it all. I was.

I'm going to throw myself out here now.

I called out Joe Biden and the diminished mental acuity and a lack of ferv and the incapacitation that so many that people were alluding to. I called it out a year in advance. I got eviscerated. Eviscerated. And I'm not, quote, unquote, conservative. So I can relate to Megyn Kelly sitting before him and being pretty pissed off because the conservative media was right, the conservative media was right, and the liberal media wasn't just wrong. The challenge is, was it intentional? Now, I'm not here to accuse Jake Tapper of that. I'll ask him when I speak to him. But there is no doubt that one of the issues that's really permeating that can't be avoided is that the Democratic.

Party.

Was demanding that you flow with and you vibe with what they wanted you to. And if you did it, they were ready to have your ass canceled. Which is why you had so many people lamenting cancel culture, which is why you have somebody like me, Vinnie from the PBD podcast.

Love you, bro. Love you.

But this is why you have people like me saying, yo, we pretty ticked off because those are not things we knew. And when you see the Democrats engaging in a level of duplicity that you don't like, you're offended by it. Now, somebody like him would say, well, we were there with Trump all along. Well, that sounds like a loyalty to Trump instead of a loyalty to America. Just because that's your dude and you were vibing with him don't mean you knew factually and definitively that, that there was truth being told about the Democrats that the rest of us were oblivious to. Megy Kelly came to find that out along with others. My man Sean Hannity says religiously, hey, liberal media is dead.

This is what he was talking about. The Mark Levins, the Sean Hannity's, the Clay Travis's of the world and others, the Megyn Kelly's of the world. What can we say to them at this particular moment in time? If you are a Democrat who bought in to the Democratic Party, willing to engage in cancel culture when it came to anybody who would dare verbalize a dissenting opinion to what they were putting out there, what can we say? CNN was clearly guilty of it. We all saw.

We saw Joe Scarborough going on MSNBC with Morning Joe. We saw him on the national airwaves. Saying, raving about President Biden's health and acuity. We saw it.

But there was clearly evidence to the contrary. And when that evidence was revealed, people on the left engaged in condemnation towards those who did have the guts to tell what clearly has now become the truth. You can get into the timing of Jake Tapper and his book coming out and how the publicity of it all is venturing around Biden's announcement that he has an aggressive form of prostate cancer. You can lament that all day till the cows come home. You're trying to sell a book. You're trying to sell a book. You wrote the book. You put in the work. You got to write to promote the book. But the point is, CNN and other.

Platforms, if indeed you engaged in the kind of behavior that dissuaded and minimized and, dare I say, condemned those who would dare challenge the mental acuity and the health and the overall health of Joe Biden, what do you have to say for yourself now? It is a legitimate question. It is a legitimate question. I applaud Jake Tapper for showing up.

To Megyn Kelly's show. He knew it wasn't going to be easy, but boy, did he rake, get raped through the coals by her with nothing but facts. Nothing but facts.

And now if you're the Democratic Party.

Please understand that when I said Monday.

You'Re the political version of Lance Armstrong, please understand. I'm not backing up from that statement one minute, one bit.

I mean it.

Lance Armstrong was lying through his damn teeth about taking performance enhancing drugs when he was accused of it. He didn't just deny it. He tried to ruin the lives of those who were telling the truth about him. And now that we reflect on what transpired with Joe Biden and how complicit the Democratic Party appears to have been in all of that, what are we to say about them? It ain't about Trump. It's not about Kamala Harris. It's about that party. From woke culture to cancel culture. Vie with us or you gotta get bounced outta here. You got rid of your own. Andrew Cuomo is a problem until he leaves office. Then all of a sudden, practically all the cases go away. Al Franken and his behavior as a comedian is a problem. Even though you had him lock, stock and barrel in a Senate seat for the Democrats in Minneapolis. And then all of a sudden, he's out. And now stuff don't matter that much anymore. Time and time and time again.

The.

Democrats have eaten their own and spit them out. Hell, listening to Bernie Sanders speak, one would argue you're doing it to him. This is bad. This is very bad. And I think that as Jake Tapper goes around a circuit promoting his book and the more facts we learn from this book.

I think irreparable harm is going to be done to the Democrats. I think the midterms are in jeopardy. I think the presidency in 2028 is in jeopardy. It's really bad, y' all. It's really bad. And getting back to Jake Tapper, here's what I will say, based purely on a Megyn Kelly interview, not knowing anything else at this particular moment in time, because I haven't read the book. Obviously, if all of these assertions are true, it's gonna be real interesting to watch the fallout directly involving Jake Tapper, because other people have been let go for what some would surmise is less. Feel me? I'm just saying it's gonna be real interesting to watch what happens.

[Ryan Seacrest]

This podcast is sponsored by Talkspace. May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and Talkspace, the leading virtual therapy provider, is telling everyone, let's face it, in therapy, by talking or texting with a supportive licensed therapist at Talkspace, you can face whatever is holding you back, whether it's mental health symptoms, relationship drama, past trauma, bad habits, or another challenge that you need support. To work through, it's easy to sign up. Just go to talkspace.com and you'll be paired with a provider, typically within 48 hours. And because you'll meet your therapist online, you don't have to take time off work or arrange childcare. You'll meet on your schedule. Plus, Talkspace is in network with most major insurers and most Insured members have a $0 copay. Make your mental health a priority and start today. If you're not covered by Insurance, get $80 off your first month with Talkspace when you go to talkspace.com and enter promo code space80. That's S P A C E 80 to match with a licensed therapist today, go to talkspace.com and Enter promo code space80.

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[Stephen A. Smith]

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