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'Literally Nothing?!': CNN's Jake Tapper Was Gobsmacked by Kamala's Underperformance

Mia Cathell
Mia Cathell  |  November 06, 2024 1:15 PM

He's tapped out.

CNN's Jake Tapper was absolutely gobsmacked on the morning after the 2024 election to see that Kamala Harris had failed to outperform Joe Biden's 2020 record in any of the 50 states.

Tapper's visceral reaction was in response to CNN chief national correspondent John King pulling up a graphic showing in which states Harris earned at least 3 percent more votes than Biden had last election.

"You asked are there any places that the vice president is overperforming Joe Biden in 2020, so we can show you that as well. We just bring that out here. Harris overperforming 2020," King said, teasing the reveal.

That's when the projector presented a blank map of the U.S.

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A dumbfounded Tapper gasped, his mouth agape, at the completely grey diagram.

"Holy smokes!" Tapper exclaimed. "Literally nothing?!"

King confirmed, "Literally nothing."

Indeed, not a single state lit up blue for Harris.

A pop-up graphic partially blocked the eastern coast of the country. "Let this go away, and see if there's anything on the east side there," King said. There wasn't.

"Literally not one county?!" Tapper asked again in awe, still sounding shocked.

King, however, clarified that this slide showed states, not counties.

He then switched slides and displayed a map broken down at the county level, which showed that Harris only outdid Biden by 3 percent or more in a mere 58 counties nationwide.

King compared this meager amount to Donald Trump claiming over a thousand counties across America.

"There might be more out here on the West Coast, possibly one or two more as they finish the count here, but in the states that matter — again, I just showed you all those Trump counties — in one county in battleground Pennsylvania, she's outperforming President Biden by 3 percent or more," King said.

Tapper was also all doom and gloom when he had to inform CNN viewers that Trump was leading in every remaining battleground state:

And just to go over where we are right now. So, there are seven battleground states. CNN has projected that Donald Trump will win two of them: North Carolina and Georgia.

Of the five that are remaining, there is Arizona. Trump is in the lead currently with 0.72 percent of the vote.

Pennsylvania, Donald Trump is in the lead with 2.6 percent of the vote.

Wisconsin, Donald Trump is in the lead by 3.53 percent of the vote.

Then there's Michigan. Donald Trump is in the lead with 6.12 percent of the vote.

There's also Nevada.

[...]

Of the five battleground states that are outstanding, Donald Trump is currently in the lead in all five of them.

Tapper began Election Night flabbergasted when he saw the exit poll results pour in, showing a massive swing (a 20-point difference) among independents in Georgia shift from Biden (who won that group by nine points in 2020) toward Trump (who enjoyed an 11-point advantage over Harris) this presidential election cycle.

"Wow!" Tapper reacted. "That is really significant. We're seeing some incremental changes here and there. When it comes to young voters, [Harris is] doing slightly better. Non-college whites, [Trump is] doing slighter better. But that independent swing is wild!"

"It's a huge swing!" agreed CNN co-host Dana Bash.