CNN’s Jake Tapper didn’t jump on the misogyny bandwagon against former President Donald Trump on Thursday. Instead, he used his weekday afternoon show to rake Vice President Kamala Harris over the coals for blowing past the boundaries of honesty when she declared that Trump’s latest off-hand remark proves he’s “does not respect the freedom of women.”

In the closing days of the campaign, and with polls showing the election too close to call, both Trump and Harris are grasping at any vestige of an opening against one another. After President Joe Biden referred to MAGA supporters as “garbage,” President Trump hopped aboard a garbage truck in Wisconsin. When a comedian at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage,” Harris and allies used the joke to try and mobilize Puerto Rican swing state communities. Now Harris wants another bite at the apple after Trump stated on Thursday that he would be a defender of women and protect them whether they “like it or not.”

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“It actually is, I think, very offensive to women in terms of not understanding their agency, their authority, their right and their ability to make decisions about their own lives, including their own bodies,” Harris told reporters in Madison, Wisconsin, the Washington Post reported. “There’s a saying that you’ve got to listen to people when they tell you who they are. He does not believe women should have the agency and authority to make decisions about their own bodies. This is the same man who said women should be punished for their choices. He simply does not respect the freedom of women or the intelligence of women to know what is in their own best interest and make decisions accordingly.”

Tapper found that interpretation ludicrous. “He was talking about protecting women, protecting women whether they like it or not. Certainly you can take issue with the language, but he wasn’t saying he was going to do whatever he wanted, regardless of… you know,” Tapper trailed off. His take was a rare moment on CNN where reporters have attempted to stomp out Harris’s insinuation that Trump is a sexual abuser. Tapper looked at a guest for affirmation. “You get my point. He’s saying ‘I’m going to protect women whether they want me to or not.'”

Yes, agreed the woman, “but some would say that’s misogynist.” “But it’s not as she presented it,” Tapper retorted. “Just quote it accurately!”

WATCH:

CNN's Jake Tapper fact-checks Kamala on Trump’s statement about protecting women: "Quote him accurately" pic.twitter.com/ZXCLPvSJ0p

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) November 1, 2024

President Trump’s comments came amid a push by his campaign to close the gender gap among female voters. While in Wisconsin on Wednesday, Trump told a gaggle of reporters that his advisors begged him to stop saying he would protect women because it sounded politically incorrect. “My people told me, about four weeks ago — I always say, ‘No, I want to protect the people. I want to protect the women of our country. I want to protect the women.’ ‘Sir, please don’t say that.’ ‘Why?’ They said, ‘We think it’s — we think it’s very inappropriate for you to say so,’” Trump said. “‘Why? I’m president. I want to protect the women of our country.’ They said, they said, ‘Sir, I just think it’s inappropriate for you to say.’” Trump continued: “I said, well, I’m going to do it whether the women like it or not.”

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