Flashback: CNN, MSNBC obsessed over Trump's 'Tim Apple' gaffe
MSNBC and CNN personalities flipped out when former President Trump called Tim Cook "Tim Apple in 2019.
CNN and MSNBC couldn't find any airtime to mention President Biden's jarring gaffe in which he thought a dead congresswoman was alive but previously obsessed over the unintentional nickname then-President Trump gave to Apple CEO Tim Cook.
At the White House's Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health, Biden searched the crowd on Wednesday for Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Ind.
"Jackie, are you here? Where's Jackie? She must not be here," Biden looked around before continuing his speech.
Walorski died in a car accident in early August along with two staffers, which Biden himself acknowledged in a statement released after her passing. She had been a legislative champion of a bipartisan bill that tackles nutrition and hunger. A video tribute honoring her memory played at Wednesday's event.
BIDEN APPEARS TO LOOK FOR DECEASED CONGRESSWOMAN IN CROWD: 'WHERE'S JACKIE?'
US President Joe Biden speaks at the White House Conference On Hunger, Nutrition And Health in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022. (Yuri Gripas/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The controversy continued in the White House briefing room, where Biden's press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to acknowledge that the president made any error, repeatedly telling reporters Walorski was "top of mind" as Biden is scheduled to meet her family at a White House ceremony on Friday.
Several reporters, including ABC News' Cecilia Vega, CNN's Phil Mattingly and CBS News' Steven Portnoy, grilled Jean-Pierre on her non-answers.
However, none of this caught the attention of the newscasts or the two liberal cable networks.
While Hurricane Ian has dominated the news cycle in recent days, CNN and MSNBC managed to cover other topics with their 24 hours of on-air programming, like the latest in the Jan. 6 Committee probe and former President Trump's legal woes.
PRESIDENT BIDEN SHOCKS TWITTER WITH CRINGEWORTHY GAFFE ABOUT DECEASED CONGRESSWOMAN
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre talks to reporters during the daily news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on September 28, 2022 in Washington, DC. Jean-Pierre was repeatedly asked about why President Joe Biden was looking for the late Congresswoman Jackie Walorski (R-IN), who was killed in a car accident on August 03, during an event earlier in the day. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The media, particularly CNN and MSNBC, sang a different tune whenever Biden's predecessor made a verbal slip, specifically in 2019 during a White House meeting where then-President Trump, sitting alongside Tim Cook, praised Apple for its U.S. expansion and job creation.
"We appreciate it very much, Tim Apple," Trump said.
Like Biden's White House, Trump insisted he made no error and claimed what he said was intentional, tweeting days later, "I quickly referred to Tim + Apple as Tim/Apple as an easy way to save time & words." That explanation came after reporting alleging he told GOP donors he actually said "Tim Cook Apple" quickly and that the "Cook" part was softly spoken.
But unlike the "Where's Jackie?" snafu, the liberal networks took many bites from the "Tim Apple" apple.
"Look, give the president a break. He's got a lot to deal with. And Cook is tough to remember. It's a tough tongue-twister like all one-syllable names are. It's also possible the president just assumes that titans of industry adopt a corporate last name," CNN anchor Anderson Cooper mocked Trump at the time. "There was after all that period of time in the 1990s when he was known in some quarters as Donald J. Bankrupt Casino."
Cooper's primetime colleague Don Lemon railed against Trump for "lying about the little things" like the "Tim Apple incident.
MSNBC, CNN, DEMOCRATS LARGELY DEFEND BIDEN'S ‘SEMI-FASCISM’ COMMENT, SLAM TRUMP REPUBLICANS
US President Donald Trump speaks alongside senior advisor and daughter Ivanka Trump (2R) and Apple CEO Tim Cook (L) during the first meeting of the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, March 6, 2019. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
"He could have just called it a slip of the tongue, that would just be easy enough. But instead, he tweeted today that he was ‘saving time and words,’" Lemon told viewers. "Is he in really such a hurry that he needs to leave out the man's last name?"
"You heard the man! He said ‘Tim Apple.' It's funny. It's ridiculous. It is. Why am I talking about this? This is why it matters; he's the president!" Lemon later exclaimed.
CNN, MSNBC IGNORE JILL BIDEN'S ‘BREAKFAST TACOS’ GAFFE IN BROADCASTS
"The Situation Room" anchor Wolf Blitzer said Trump's gaffe was "no big deal" but questioned why the president "would come up with a tortured explanation that he was condensing words to save time."
Then-CNN's chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta reported that Trump was "still playing clean-up" for calling Cook "Tim Apple."
Meanwhile, MSNBC had a field day over Trump's gaffe and his evolving explanations for the remark.
"We've all had that awkward moment when you're in a conversation… and the person slips your mind. Well, President Trump is no different. While he enjoys inventing nicknames, he does not always remember people’s names. And yesterday he added one of the top CEO’s to that list," MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle gleefully told viewers before playing a montage of Trump's various name errors.
"Meet The Press: Daily" host Chuck Todd similarly had fun at the expense of Trump, pointing out how the president must've missed the "name placard" that was on the table.
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"Well, Mr. President, I know you named your business after yourself, but not everybody names the businesses after themselves. For every Michael Bloomberg and Henry Ford and Walt Disney, there's no Mark Facebook, Jeff Amazon or Howard Starbucks," Todd teased Trump.
"All In" host Chris Hayes, who accused Trump of getting "a little confused" during that White House meeting, even provided what he called "forensic analysis" to be sure that the president actually said "Tim Apple" by replaying the clip in slow motion.
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