Esquire named CNN’s Jake Tapper “The King of Truth” as part of its year-end best of 2020 feature.
The publication hailed Tapper’s coverage during election week, when the projected winner of the presidential election remained in doubt from Tuesday night through Saturday afternoon, when President-elect Joe Biden was projected the winner.
“As one of several of the network’s reporters who gave literal meaning to the job of ‘anchor’ during a truly weird week, Tapper kept those nervously watching in Pennsylvania or Paris, LA or London, grounded and sane,” the publication wrote. “In the days following the result Tapper and his co-hosts alternated between snatches of sleep and holding the Trump administration’s feet to the fire by showing the receipts against every wild claim being made.”
Esquire went on to speculate that Tapper, a Philadelphia native, would likely see Philadelphia Flyers mascot Gritty, who became a symbol of post-election celebrations, as a worthier recipient of the award.
The publication separately named a fly that landed on Vice President Pence’s head during his debate with Sen. Kamala Harris (Calif.), the Democratic vice presidential nominee, as “The King of the Skies.”
“When the earth had been made low and darkness hung o’erhanging on every escarpment, thou ascended on high to Pence’s bonce,” the publication wrote. “Thine gossamer limbs carried you aloft to the pallid, snow-driven peak of the swamp, whereon you languished in thine exertion and let our hungry eyes feast on the nourishing milk of your triumph.”