CNN anchor Jake Tapper faced a wave of backlash this week after an interview with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent veered off course when Bessent dodged questions about President Donald Trump’s lavish Mar-a-Lago party and instead took aim at former President Barack Obama.
The exchange aired amid public outrage over Trump’s decision to host a Gatsby-themed Halloween party at his Palm Beach resort while millions of Americans faced the imminent loss of food assistance due to the ongoing government shutdown. Funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which supports roughly 42 million people, was set to expire on November 1.
During the State of the Union, Tapper pressed Bessent on whether the optics of a “Gatsby-themed party” and a “$300 million ballroom” project were appropriate as Americans went without paychecks and food benefits. “Obama is out on the campaign trail, and not surprisingly, he’s been pretty critical of President Trump,” Tapper said, before airing a clip of the former president.
Obama had joked, “He has been focused on some critical issues, like paving over the rose garden so folks don’t get mud on their shoes. And building a $300 million ballroom. And if you don’t get an invitation to the next White House shindig, you can always watch the festivities on Trump’s live feed on Truth Social.”
When the camera returned to Tapper, he linked Obama’s remarks to the Mar-a-Lago bash. “These comments came within a day of the president hosting a Gatsby-themed Halloween party at Mar-a-Lago while SNAP benefits are set to run out,” Tapper said. “You can understand the general theme — I’ve heard Republicans even express concern about the optics here of parties and lavish ballrooms and such, while a lot of Americans are hurting. What’s your response?”
Bessent sidestepped the question, launching into an attack on Democrats and Obama. “My response is that the Democrats should reopen the government, and I believe President Obama played a record amount of golf for any president, so I’m not sure why he’s out there throwing stones,” Bessent said. “It’s unfortunate we’ve got 52 Republican senators who’ve voted to reopen the government, three brave Democrats, and I’m calling here on five moderate Democrats to be heroes — let’s reopen the government.”
The remark drew immediate backlash online, with critics accusing Tapper of allowing Bessent to “throw Obama under the bus” without fact-checking his claim.
“@jaketapper When someone tells a GROSS LIE on your show it’s your job as a JOURNALIST to stop + correct the record in REAL TIME,” one viewer wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “You KNOW + @CNN knows Trump has played a record amount of golf, far, far more than anything Obama ever did. You said nothing.”
Others posted videos of the Mar-a-Lago event itself. “Women dancing for Trump at the Mar-a-Lago club. TSA workers haven’t received a check in over 30 days & people can’t buy groceries or afford health insurance,” one user wrote. Another posted footage of an entertainer performing in a giant glass at the party, saying, “Some MAGA accounts falsely claimed this didn’t actually happen. They are wrong once again.”
The Associated Press confirmed that “Gatsby and ‘a little party never killed nobody’” was the official theme of the night. Guests arrived in Roaring Twenties attire, and Trump was photographed seated beside Secretary of State Marco Rubio at a table near the center of the ballroom. Dancers in flapper costumes performed for the crowd.
Prominent Democrats seized on the optics. “Donald Trump hosted a Great Gatsby party while SNAP benefits were about to disappear for 42 million Americans,” said California Governor Gavin Newsom. “He does not give a damn about you.”
“Trump hosts a Gatsby party for billionaires while SNAP benefits expire for 41 million Americans today,” Rep. Ro Khanna of California added. “Tax the rich. Feed hungry Americans.”
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut was even more blunt: “The way he rubs his inhumanity in Americans’ faces never ceases to stun me. He’s illegally refusing to pay food stamp benefits… while he throws a ridiculously over-the-top Gatsby party for his right-wing millionaire and corporate friends.”
The White House pushed back hard. Spokesperson Anna Kelly told The Independent that Democrats were “full of it.”
“President Trump has consistently called on them to do the right thing and reopen the government, which they could do at any time,” she said. “Unfortunately, Gavin Newscum, Chuck Schumer, and Congressional Democrats would rather push health care for illegal immigrants than save American citizens from suffering.”
Even as the Mar-a-Lago celebration sparked public outrage, Trump boasted on Truth Social about a different kind of renovation — the remodeling of the Lincoln bathroom in the White House. “I renovated the Lincoln Bathroom in the White House,” he wrote, sharing images of gold and marble décor. “It was renovated in the 1940s in an Art Deco green tile style, which was totally inappropriate for the Lincoln Era… I did it in black and white polished Statuary marble. This was very appropriate for the time of Abraham Lincoln and, in fact, could be the marble that was originally there!”
Meanwhile, in federal court, two judges issued emergency rulings ordering the administration to release funds to keep SNAP afloat during the shutdown.
Rhode Island federal District Court Judge Jack McConnell said from the bench, “There is no doubt, and it is beyond argument, that irreparable harm will continue to occur” if SNAP funding stops. He ordered the Trump administration to use emergency funds — more than $5 billion — to sustain the program and identify additional sources to keep it running.
Families, McConnell said, were facing “terror” at the prospect of losing food benefits within days. Massachusetts federal District Court Judge Indira Talwani, ruling in a separate case, warned that the government’s suspension of payments was likely illegal. “We’re not going to make everyone drop dead,” she said.
A lawsuit filed by Democratic leaders from 25 states argued that the Department of Agriculture is legally obligated to continue the program as long as contingency funds remain available. By Nov. 3, the Trump administration announced it would pay half of SNAP recipients’ benefits this month.
Trump responded to the court orders with another post on Truth Social, blaming Democrats for the lapse. “I do NOT want Americans to go hungry just because the Radical Democrats refuse to do the right thing and REOPEN THE GOVERNMENT,” he wrote. “If we are given the appropriate legal direction by the Court, it will BE MY HONOR to provide the funding, just like I did with Military and Law Enforcement Pay.”
Great Job A.L. Lee & the Team @ Atlanta Black Star Source link for sharing this story.
