CNN’s The Lead hosted some very dangerous and incendiary rhetoric from anchor Jake Tapper during Thursday’s episode as he promoted Democratic Party conspiracy theories that President Trump was going to turn the National Guard on Americas. According to two different segments Tapper presented to his audience, Trump was going to steal the midterm elections, and he found it suspicious troops were being sent to American cities at the same Trump was renaming the Department of Defense back to Department of War.
Earlier in the week, Tapper had described online claims that Trump was dead as “bizarre conspiracy theories.” But that firm condemnation was nowhere to be found when he highlighted and thus promoted Democratic Party claims Trump was going to steal the midterm elections using the National Guard:
TAPPER: And Terry, some Democrats, such as Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, have suggested this isn't about fighting crime itself. Take a listen to what he told CBS Face the Nation.
(Cuts to video)
PRITZKER: He'd like to stop the elections in 2026 or frankly take control of those elections. He'll just claim that there's some problem with an election and then he's got troops on the ground that can take control if in fact he's allowed to do this.
(Cuts back to live)
TAPPER: And the governor of California, Gavin Newsom has said similar things.
Tapper was speaking to disgraced former ABC reporter Terry Moran, who recalled a recent interview he did California Attorney General Rob Bonta. “Well, he's filing a lawsuit to stop the extension of the original 300 National Guard troop presence in Los Angeles past Election Day because he's suspicious, because there's a shadow in all of this,” Moran proclaimed.
Moran added to the far-left conspiracy theory by suggesting the deployments to help crack down on crime were “to prime the American people to see military forces on the streets of our cities when there is no justification … And that's clearly what this is.”
In the second hour of The Lead, Tapper did a segment about Trump getting set to sign an executive order reverting the name of the Department of Defense back to the Department of War. The CNN “journalist” found the timing suspect given the National Guard deployments.
“It's interesting that this comes as all these National Guard troops are being deployed to major cities, having nothing to do with war, theoretically,” he said, obviously hinting at something nefarious.
“Right. No. We have an active military now, and they're landing in American cities,” agreed CNN commentator and former Obama flack David Axelrod.
Suggesting to the public that the National Guard troops they see are primed to steal their elections and launch a war against the American people was extremely dangerous rhetoric. If yet another far-left lunatic heard CNN’s hyperbolic reporting, it could lead to even more attempts to kill Trump, Republicans, and maybe even the troops.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
CNN’s The Lead
September 4, 2025
5:48:35 p.m. Eastern(…)
JAKE TAPPER: And Terry, some Democrats, such as Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, have suggested this isn't about fighting crime itself. Take a listen to what he told CBS Face the Nation.
(Cuts to video)
GOV. J.B. PRITZKER (D-IL): He'd like to stop the elections in 2026 or frankly take control of those elections. He'll just claim that there's some problem with an election and then he's got troops on the ground that can take control if in fact he's allowed to do this.
(Cuts back to live)
TAPPER: And the governor of California, Gavin Newsom has said similar things. You just spoke to the attorney general of California. What do they -- what -- what does -- what does he think?
TERRY MORAN: Well, he's filing a lawsuit to stop the extension of the original 300 National Guard troop presence in Los Angeles past Election Day because he's suspicious, because there's a shadow in all of this, whether it's for the screens.
It is also to prime the American people to see military forces on the streets of our cities when there is no justification. There's no disaster. There's no riot burning down square miles of any city. There was one car on fire in Los Angeles. And that's clearly what this is.
Trump wanted to send the military. He talked about it in 2020. In December of 2020, he said we could have the military hold elections in the -- in the swing states. He's talked about it here. He says, I'm the President. They get to do what I want. And they're already talking about the emergency around the voting machines.
ASHLEY ETIENNE: And let's not forget, this is also about what -- what expansion of the authority of the presidency. This is what Steve Bannon and Steve Miller said that the purpose of this next administration is. And that's what we're seeing play out on the streets of American cities.
(…)
6:46:34 p.m. Eastern
TAPPER: It's interesting that this comes as all these National Guard troops are being deployed to major cities, having nothing to do with war, theoretically.
DAVID AXELROD: Right. No. We have an active military now, and they're landing in American cities.
(…)