‘Damn Straight!’ – Watch Stephen Miller Sideline CNN’s Jake Tapper on His Own Show and Educate Arrogant Host on Venezuela

Stephen Miller, Homeland Security advisor to President Donald Trump, has established himself as a tenacious advocate for American interests.

Meanwhile, CNN’s Jake Tapper remains one of the establishment media’s most insufferable propagandists.

Monday on “The Lead with Jake Tapper,” Miller emphatically made the case for the Trump administration’s remarkable capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, while the host largely fumed, pouted, and reminded conservatives why we so despise the establishment media.

In a clip posted to the social media platform X, Tapper asked Miller if post-Maduro Venezuela should hold an election.

On the surface, of course, it sounded like a reasonable question. As cheerleaders for U.S. aid to Ukraine in that country’s war against Russia, however, establishment propagandists like Tapper never bothered to ask officials in former President Joe Biden’s administration whether Ukrainian dictator Volodymyr Zelenskyy should hold elections.

Perhaps Miller thought of that hypocrisy when Tapper asked about Venezuelan elections. And perhaps that partly explains the adversarial nature of the interview from that point forward.

Either way, Miller had no interest in talking about elections so soon after Maduro’s capture. Instead, the Trump advisor had some big ideas.

First, Miller referred to the “foundational” principle of U.S. security in our own hemisphere. He even called America a “superpower.” With that in mind, the U.S. will not allow rivals such as China, for instance, to acquire influence with hostile actors like the Maduro regime in Venezuela.

Tapper visibly bristled at the word “superpower.”

“Sovereign countries shouldn’t be able to do what they want to do?” the CNN host asked moments later.

Miller replied, “The Monroe Doctrine and the Trump Doctrine is all about securing the national interests of America.”

Then, when the Trump advisor framed the Venezuela operation as a departure from the catastrophic regime-change and nation-building exercises of recent decades, Tapper pretended not to understand, at which point Miller hilariously accused the CNN host of “doing that smarmy thing.”

Anyone who has ever watched Tapper’s body language and facial expressions knows exactly what Miller meant.

Still, Tapper would not let go of his insistence upon an immediate answer to the election question.

“We went into the country, and we seized the leader of Venezuela,” Tapper said, inferring a problem with the present Venezuelan regime’s legitimacy that only elections could rectify.

Again, Miller had no interest in talking about elections.

“Damn straight we did!” the Trump advisor shot back. “Because the point, Jake, is that we’re not going to let tinpot communist dictators send rapists into our country, send drugs into our country, send weapons into our country, and we’re not gonna let a country fall into the hands of our adversaries!”

Tapper literally threw his hand up in frustration.

Fake Tapper: “We went into the country and we seized the leader of Venezuela…”@StephenM: “Damn straight we did! … We’re not going to let tinpot communist dictators send rapists into our country, send drugs into our country, send weapons into our country!” 🔥 pic.twitter.com/yphr646lYt

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 5, 2026

Conservatives, of course, have many reasons for holding Tapper in contempt. Chief among them is the fact that Tapper participated in the years-long cover-up of Biden’s mental decline and then wrote a book purporting to expose that cover-up.

Another reason, easily overlooked, is the fact that Tapper, as he demonstrated during the hostile exchange with Miller, embodies the establishment media’s lack of interest in anything that benefits the United States.

Miller argued, for instance, that the U.S. had multiple reasons for intervening in Venezuela. He cited the Monroe Doctrine, which Americans once universally celebrated. He also cited rapists, drugs, and weapons entering the U.S. from Maduro’s Venezuela.

Non-interventionists, of course, could make an equally reasonable case against removing Maduro by force. They would argue, for instance, that capturing and removing a hostile dictator hardly ensures a nation’s long-term prosperity and often leads to considerable short-term costs for the U.S.

Both Miller and the non-interventionists, however, would argue from the same starting point: what benefits Americans.

By contrast, Tapper had no interest in that question.

Indeed, the striking thing about the Tapper-Miller exchange was the casual arrogance with which the CNN host blew off Miller’s points about the Monroe Doctrine or the rapists, drugs, and weapons entering the U.S. from Venezuela, as if the American point of view counts for nothing compared to the need to bring immediate democratic legitimacy to the Venezuelan regime.

Small wonder so many American viewers have tuned out the propaganda media.

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