Jake Tapper says national media hasn't talked about anti-Asian racism at all and gushes over Biden's 'empathy'



CNN's Jake Tapper gushed over the "empathy" of President Joe Biden in addressing anti-Asian racism and then claimed that it had not been discussed by the national media at all.

Tapper made the comments while reporting Friday on his show about a scheduled speech that Biden was to give addressing anti-Asian racism.

"At any moment we're expecting President Biden to speak," said Tapper, "after meeting with Asian-American leaders in Atlanta following the shootings that left eight people, including six women of Asian descent, dead."

Tapper was referring to a trio of shootings at massage parlors in Atlanta, Georgia, on Tuesday where the suspect claimed, according to police, that he had lashed out because of his frustration with a sex addiction.

"Biden is known for his empathy for being a good consoler in chief," Tapper continued, "this is obviously a big issue though, the pain in the Asian American community, not just from this incident, not just from the last year, but for racism that really hasn't been discussed much on national media at all!"

"That's exactly right," agreed Dana Bash. "Just by the fact that the president of the United States is going down and is shining a light on something that we've been talking a lot about, certainly this week, but as you said, Jake, has been going on to a lesser degree over the past year, is something."

Bash went on to blame anti-Asian racism on former President Donald Trump for using phrases in referring to the coronavirus that emphasized Wuhan, China, as its origin.

"And the fact that the other side of this, that culturally Asian Americans feel more emboldened to speak out about the horrible hate that they have been dealing with," said Bash, "particularly since people like President Trump have been using racial slurs to describe the COVID virus, and making people believe that people of Asian descent are somehow responsible for this, it's just, it's ridiculous."

Recent incidents of violence and hatred against Asian Americans have been frequently highlighted in the national media, especially by those trying to tie the attacks to rhetoric used by the former president.

Here's the video of Tapper's comments:

Add New Yorker’s report of Cuomo’s taxpayer-funded smear of accuser to growing list of scandals @DanaBashCNN… https://t.co/1G8PREyVD8
— The Lead CNN (@The Lead CNN)1616189559.0

Breaking: 8 people killed in shootings at 3 Atlanta-area massage parlors; police capture 21-year-old suspect



Three attacks at several massage parlors near Atlanta, Georgia, led to at least 8 fatalities and police said they captured a 21-year-old suspect hours later.

The shootings spanned three businesses across two counties around Atlanta.

One shooting at a Cherokee County massage parlor claimed the lives of four people, police said. The incident at Young's Asian Massage Parlor unfolded about 5 p.m. and by the time police arrived two people had already died while two others died after they were taken to a hospital. Another victim was also admitted to the hospital.

A second shooting was reported about 45 minutes later and 30 miles away at another business. Police found three women who had been killed by apparent gunshot wounds.

A third shooting was then reported across the street at another business. Police found one woman dead there.

The two businesses were identified as the Aromatherapy Spa and the Gold Spa.

Police were able to identify a suspect in the first shooting and they released a photo from surveillance video to the public. Very soon after, they found 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long from Woodstock, Georgia, and arrested him through the use of a pit maneuver.

#Breaking @CrispCoSheriff arrested 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long without incident for the deaths of eight people af… https://t.co/9Mb0AbnS7s
— Ariana J. Triggs (@Ariana J. Triggs)1615948247.0

"It does not appear that robbery or theft was a motive, but that's one of the things we're looking into," said sheriff's Capt. Jay Baker. "We don't know what his motive was when he arrived or what motivated him to do something like this."

NBC News reporter Blayne Alexander reported that police had connected the man to all three shooting incidents.

An acquaintance of Long's told the Daily Beast that he was "nerdy" and seemed very innocent.

"He was a hunter and his father was a youth minister or pastor. He was big into religion," the identified person said.

Police later confirmed that at least six of the victims appeared to be Asian, fueling suspicions that the assault might have been a hate crime. Police have also said they are not ruling out a hate crime.

Here's a local news story about the lethal shootings:

Suspect in custody after several killed at Atlanta area spaswww.youtube.com