The recent "interview" CNN's Jake Tapper did with California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), where the two went back and forth in a way that looked more like two old, chummy friends catching up than a purported journalist questioning a public official, went viral in part thanks to a laughable claim Newsom made about former Vice President Kamala Harris and what he'd do if she declared her intention to run for a third time.

As RedState's Bob Hoge reported, Newsom shocked Tapper by stating that if the failed 2024 Democrat presidential nominee threw her hat into the ring, then he wouldn't. "I wouldn't do that to her ... I wouldn't do that to you. I wouldn't waste everyone's time. Who needs that?" Newsom said as he pretended to be preparing his bait for the fly-fishing line.

Reading between the lines, Newsom seemed to be suggesting that a bruising presidential primary wouldn't be good for anyone in the Democrat Party. But as Bob pointed out, "By claiming he’d take some sort of higher road, meanwhile, I’d bet he’s guessing that she’s not going to enter the race." Bingo. Newsom wasn't being selfless or gentlemanly there; he was being calculating.

But while seeing the two of them standing in the water casting their lines (literally and figuratively, of course) was a source of endless amusement for many, a not-so-funny segment from Tapper's Out of Office program is now making the rounds and, in the process, is sparking outrage thanks to the way Newsom casually expresses supposed "regret" for some of the ways he handled the COVID pandemic:

Tapper first said, “There needs to be like a 9/11 commission on COVID, you know, what we did right, what we did wrong.” Newsom responded with a moment of hindsight: “I mean, the idea that we closed beaches was insane in hindsight.” 

Tapper then briefly mentioned Newsom’s French Laundry dining moment during the pandemic: “I already gave you s**t for French Laundry. That was a long time ago… I wasn’t even going to bring up French Laundry, but like…” 

In response, Newsom called it a “completely legit condemnation” and said his politics “changed” after the failed recall effort against him.

Read the full transcript here.

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In reality, Newsom doesn't have an ounce of regret for his draconian policies, which resulted in people getting arrested for the apparent crime of going to the beach or a skate park. In the interview, he merely referred to the mandates that locked people up and put others out of business permanently as "rules" he was simply "promoting," a Herculean revisionist effort that would make Bill "Slick Willie" Clinton blush if he had been watching.

But what made it even worse was Tapper, who not only treated Newsom like an old college buddy in the interview, but who went on CNN Wednesday morning and played cheerleader for Newsom by suggesting he felt he was being "sincere" about his COVID regret because of the "sigh" he let out during his answer. I kid you not.

And as Western Lensmen noted below, "any time you hear Tapper talking about the Covid era, remember that he's never acknowledged his dinner parties with Fauci, the man he was supposed to be tasked with objectively covering."

Watch:

From the transcript:

BERMAN: Some of the most telling moment there was maybe the sigh from Governor Newsom there. To what extent do you think there'll still be a reckoning for some leaders in this going forward?

TAPPER (on camera): Well, I mean, I think it's used right now very much as a cudgel to attack people. But the truth of the matter is that a lot of people made mistakes during COVID. And you see Governor Newsom there, I think sincerely, most sincerely with that sigh, thinking about how much he regrets the schools closing and that there wasn't more that was done to reopen them.

Got it, y'all? It's the tried-and-true media whataboutism tactic. We shouldn't be too hard on Newsom because "a lot of people made mistakes" during that timeframe. But which "mistakes" were the most devastatingly egregious, Jake? The ones that came from the Democrat governors like Newsom and then-NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo - and their media mouthpieces, which were pretty much everyone at CNN, including Tapper.

This little on-air Bromance was nothing more than a soft launch for Newsom's 2028 presidential campaign, and it's only fitting that Tapper was such a willing accomplice, considering his well-documented history of acting in the role of the consummate apologist for Democrat "leaders" on up to Fauci and Joe Biden.

Did I happen to mention that you don't despise the media enough? Yeah - that.