Last night on CNN's News Night, Abby Phillip hosted a political panel that discussed several topics, including Donald Trump's recent rally at Madison Square Garden. That, of course, is the polite way of saying it. What the panel really did was sit around and trash Trump and his supporters and call them all Nazis.
But the panel also included one lone conservative voice, Republican author and consultant Ryan Girdusky, and he wasn't about to let them get away with it.
Specifically, Girdusky called out another panel guest, Mehdi Hasan (who was fired from MSNBC for being too antisemitic) in no uncertain terms and fired the insults right back at him by telling Hasan 'I hope your beeper doesn't go off.'
BOOM. (No pun intended.)
Then all hell broke loose. Watch:
.@cnn panelist @Ryangirdusky in response to @mehdihassan: “I hope your beeper doesn’t go off,” essentially calling him a terrorist. Girdusky drew a rebuke from host @abbydphillip, who warned him about “going too far.” He apologized. Phillip threw him off the show. pic.twitter.com/FXVbBBW4BX
— Paul Farhi (@farhip) October 29, 2024
In the brief 14-second clip above, you can see how Hasan starts the exchange off basically by calling Girdusky and Republicans Nazis with an 'if the shoe fits' comparison.
Well, Mehdi, if the pager beeps ...
In this longer clip below from Colin Rugg, you can see how everyone else on the panel went into apoplectic fits of rage. But of course, they were only mad at Girdusky, not Hasan (surprise, surprise).
NEW: All h*ll breaks loose after Ryan Girdusky appears to accuse Mehdi Hasan of being a terrorist after Hasan accused Girdusky of being a Nazi.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) October 29, 2024
Pretty insane that this is where we are at right now.
Hasan: If you don't wanna be called Nazis, stop…
Girdusky: Well, I hope your… pic.twitter.com/e1bOUD1XKA
A reasonable person would say that either both of these insults are wrong or neither of them is wrong. But this is CNN. Reason does not apply.
As noted above, Phillip's response was to kick Girdusky off her show. But not Hasan.
It got worse after that, with both CNN and Phillip issuing statements that Girdusky is no longer welcome on the network.
Hasan is welcome back with open arms, of course.
Sharing @CNN’s statement and a quick message from me about what happened on tonight’s show.
— Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) October 29, 2024
I take this very seriously and want to again apologize to @mehdirhasan and I hope he’ll join us another time. pic.twitter.com/O9l0Ftv5NZ
So, you are apologizing to Hasan for calling Girdusky a Nazi? Hmm ...
Twitter was very quick to spot the double standard here.
But calling a conservative a "Nazi" is A-OK?
— Cynical Publius (@CynicalPublius) October 29, 2024
Do you even listen to yourself?
They do not. Hasan can't be wrong because he is part of the victim class and Girdusky is an 'oppressor.' Even though Hasan -- IN HIS OWN WORDS -- went onto the panel to sling hate at Trump and Republicans.
You put together a panel to discuss the "MSG hate rally" where American citizens who participated in the political process were being called Nazis.
— Fuzzy Chimp 🇺🇸🍌 (@fuzzychimpcom) October 29, 2024
You didn't see a problem with the "civility" of the discourse prior Girdusky's comment?https://t.co/j9QzdKeVuL
The hypocrisy is (as usual with the left) shocking but not surprising.
Girdusky did not take the dismissal lying down. He tweeted this response last night:
You can stay on CNN if you falsely call every Republican a Nazi and have taken money from Qatar-funded media. Apparently you can't go on CNN if you make a joke. I'm glad America gets to see what CNN stands for.
— Ryan James Girdusky (@RyanGirdusky) October 29, 2024
CNN completely ignored Hasan's slanderous insults. In fact, the network endorsed them by apologizing to Hasan. The only conclusion one can draw is that CNN agrees that Republicans deserve to be called Nazis.
Because that IS how CNN feels.
Despite the network's (and Phillip's) cowardly actions, Girdusky received a lot of support on Twitter for fighting fire with fire.
Welcome to the thug life @RyanGirdusky.
— Dustin Grage (@GrageDustin) October 29, 2024
Greatest moment in CNN history. pic.twitter.com/VkBr4Q9gCX
We mentioned it above, but it bears repeating that Hasan was fired -- from MSNBC, no less -- for being too antisemitic and too supportive of terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah.
So, of course, he is welcome at CNN.
Ryan Girdusky on CNN: pic.twitter.com/oEOMFB0loH
— Siraj Hashmi (@SirajAHashmi) October 29, 2024
CNN: A Muslim calls a white man and half the country Nazi's, Acceptable.
— KRYSTAL 🐊 🇺🇸 (@MsBradsher) October 29, 2024
Also CNN: White man calls a Muslim a terrorist, A Muslim who's a documented terrorist sympathizer, A bridge too far.
To hell with @CNN
To hell with @mehdirhasan 📟
I stand with @RyanGirdusky https://t.co/EvsUD8ba7A
.@RyanGirdusky is an absolute legend for this https://t.co/WmVOI8hrNO
— Jay Asliken 🕋☪️✈️ (@assliken) October 29, 2024
It's fine for people to call for more civil discourse on cable news. We'd be all for that.
It is NOT fine for people to call for more civil discourse only from one side. Republicans are not Mitt Romney anymore and conservatives are NOT going to take it when hacks like Hasan feel free to slander half the American population.
Kind of insane that CNN spent the entire day calling every single Republican alive a Nazi but then kicked someone off the show for this. https://t.co/RF8LQRFUXW
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) October 29, 2024
Insane and CNN go together like peanut butter and jelly.
But to be more precise, they've spent an entire WEEK calling every single Republican alive a Nazi. After all, it's Kamala Harris's closing argument, so CNN is obligated to repeat it.
Mehdi Hassan is probably not an actual terrorist in the sense of having participated in a terrorist attack. But he is funded by a terrorist regime and he has devoted his entire career to promoting terrorism and hatred and the fact that CNN has him on the air is the real scandal. https://t.co/rBO9imMokW
— Noah Pollak (@NoahPollak) October 29, 2024
And he still hasn't answered whether he owns a pager or not.
Hassan is pro-terrorist trash and admitted as much right after calling Girdusky a Nazi, which everyone at CNN was totally fine with.
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) October 29, 2024
And everyone at that desk should be thankful Hezbollah never thought enough of Mehdi Hassan to give him a beeper. https://t.co/YxXBVcjhln
To sum up, Hasan slung a slanderous insult at Girdusky and all Republicans, Girdusky fired back with a much better (and more accurate) insult, and the people who came out looking worst of all were Abby Phillip and CNN.
Like I said CNN's new business model is to just be The View. https://t.co/3oYjyDt9Vr
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) October 29, 2024
Pretty much, yes.
Jesse Kelly provided a perfect analysis of where CNN currently sits in the national political discourse.
The sane people at places like CNN understand the danger they’ve gotten themselves into by siloing themselves into communist safe spaces. So they bring in guys like @RyanGirdusky to try and break out.
— Jesse Kelly (@JesseKellyDC) October 29, 2024
Then the communists within purge the outsider and….back in the silo they go.
They live in a bubble. And that's where they LIKE to live. Republicans and conservatives should simply refuse to go on the network at all anymore (except Scott Jennings; we love that guy).
Yesterday, Jeff Bezos made news by issuing a statement that The Washington Post needed to include more conservative opinions. The left FREAKED OUT at that, canceling hundreds of thousands of subscriptions.
They cannot stand to hear conservatives.
Fine. Girdusky will move onto much greener pastures than CNN, and Hasan can stay at the irrelevant network where he will never have to hear anyone who disagrees with him.
But we bet he still flinches whenever he hears a pager beep.
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