Tapper Hits Hannity on Response to Biden’s SOTU Speech

CNN’s Jake Tapper chided critics of President Joe Biden, whom Republicans have alternately accused of being loopy and doddering, but also at the center of a corrupt enterprise of self-enrichment.

In particular, the Tapper highlighted Fox News host Sean Hannity’s reaction to Biden’s State of the Union address. Hannity, who describes Biden as “a cognitive mess” on a near-nightly basis, called the president “Jacked-Up Joe” on Thursday night.

During Friday’s edition of The Lead, Tapper remarked on the contrast:

TAPPER: Before the speech, Republicans were saying Biden was old, weak gaffe-prone, senile, a pushover. After the speech, unofficial Trump adviser and Fox host Sean Hannity, described it instead, like this:

CLIP OF HANNITY: Tonight, America saw, let’s say, a very different Joe Biden. I might call them Jacked-Up Joe. And that’s being charitable. He sounded like a hyper-caffeinated angry old man.

TAPPER: Hannity always known for being charitable. Can Republicans have it both ways? I mean, this also reminds me of the fact that they accuse him of being a dumb puppet fool and also this criminal mastermind. It just seems like you gotta pick a lane here.

Republicans have homed in on the business ventures of the president’s son Hunter Biden. The father and son are currently at the focus of a House investigation into whether the president profited from Hunter Biden’s overseas business dealings. House Republicans allege that Joe Biden personally benefitted from his son’s enterprises and may have even accepted bribes while he was vice president. After more than a year of investigating, they have yet to furnish proof.

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