Jake Tapper recently tried to virtue signal to The New York Times in regards to who he “allows” on his show following the 2020 election. According to Tapper, anyone who has ever raised the possibility of election fraud is banned. That supposedly includes Rep. Elise Stefanik, who supported the lawsuit over Pennsylvania likely violating its own constitution with judge-ordered changes to mail-in voting.

But what makes this a story isn’t that Tapper is a pretentious clown. Rather, it’s that while he’s saying one thing publicly, his producers have been doing another behind closed doors.

Stefanik had the receipts and absolutely wrecked the CNN host with them.

Shot….. chaser, chaser, chaser

Drink up, @jaketapper! 😂 You'll need it with your plummeting ratings!

cc: @PunchbowlNews @politico @karaswisher #TAPPERemails 😂 pic.twitter.com/CwUYPryvvN

— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) June 4, 2021

As you can see in the above screenshots, Tapper’s staff have basically begged Stefanik to come on multiple times in the last few months despite Tapper’s supposed ban going back to January. The dates above correspond with all the drama surrounding Liz Cheney’s ouster. No doubt, Tapper wanted to have Stefanik on to browbeat her over the Republican House caucus vote to remove Cheney from leadership.

Stefanik is smart when it comes to the media, though. She told Tapper to pound sand, and as far as I know, hasn’t appeared on CNN in any other capacity either. That’s the right play. As I’ve written before, Republicans have to stop walking into media buzzsaws. Do not give these people oxygen. Republicans owe them absolutely nothing. Let them choke on endless interviews with Eric Swalwell and Adam Kinzinger.

What’s really funny here, though, is that Tapper is attempting to present himself as the one calling the shots to these GOP elected officials. In reality, none of the Republicans in question are wanting to go on his show anyway so Tapper’s ban isn’t really a ban at all. You aren’t actually banning someone from something if they weren’t going to show up anyway. This is like the kid who has a party, has no one show up, and then claims they only didn’t come because he didn’t invite them. It’s kind of pathetic when you think about it.

Republicans should continue to shun CNN and every other liberal network and newspaper out there. There is no upside in talking to these various, dumpster fire outlets. Many right-leaning outlets have far bigger audiences anyway. Stay on friendly turf because there is nothing courageous or virtuous in handing someone a rhetorical knife to stab you with. No CNN host is ever going to treat a Republican with fairness. Laugh in their face when invited and don’t give them the satisfaction of creating the viral clip they are after.