CNN Anchor Rebuffs Guest Who Called Ana Navarro ‘Racist’ for ‘White Man’ Jab: ‘Not A Racial Insult’
CNN anchor Abby Phillip took sides when guest Brad Polumbo objected to CNN analyst Ana Navarro dismissing his opinion as a “White man” and called her “racist” for doing so.
On Monday night’s edition of CNN NewsNight, Phillip asked her panel about former President Barack Obama’s scoldy advice to Democrats to toughen up, and Navarro said she has seen “millions of people out there protesting in small cities and big cities, small protests and huge protests, defying the fear, defying the reign of terror and retribution that Donald Trump is trying to impose on America.”
Polumbo — co-founder of Based Politics — responded by telling Navarro “I think you’re definitely being hyperbolic. You talk about a reign of terror. When the doomsday alarm from Democrats or from media critics is always at a ten, it doesn’t hit the same, honestly.”
Later in the segment, Navarro pushed back at Polumbo by telling him that “it might be hyperbolic for you as a White man.”
That sparked an accusation of racism that Phillip stepped in to dismiss:
NAVARRO: I want to respond to you saying that I was hyperbolic when I talked about a reign of terror.
POLUMBO: Who’s idea was it hyperbolic?
(CROSSTALK)
NAVARRO: No, it might be hyperbolic for you as a White man.
POLUMBO: Oh, okay. So, we’re being racist now.
NAVARRO: It’s certainly not hyperbolic for me as a Latino.
(CROSSTALK)
NAVARRO: No, I’m not being racist.
POLUMBO: It’s — to discredit my opinion for being —
(CROSSTALK)
NAVARRO: No, I’m not dismissing your opinion.
POLUMBO: Yes, you are.
NAVARRO: I am telling you that what Latino — the Latino community, the brown community in America.–
POLUMBO: A lot of them disagree with you. You may not speak in one voice with them.
NAVARRO: Okay, well, let me speak with my voice. And you said I was being hyperbolic.
(CROSSTALK)
POLUMBO: Until you insulted me racially, sure.
NAVARRO: I ‘m not — being a White man is an insult?
POLUMBO: When you invoke it to dismiss my —
(CROSSTALK)
NAVARRO: Being a White man is an insult?
POLUMBO: When you invoke it —
NAVARRO: I — do you think — do you —
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: All right.
(CROSSTALK)
NAVARRO: — think Latinos are living under certain circumstances that other people might not be right now in this country?
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: I’m going to pause on this conversation because we’re — we’re about to have a whole conversation about that very thing. But I just want to make a point that Brad — all she’s saying is that her view of the situation is different from yours. I don’t think that’s an insult.
POLUMBO: She basically said, I’m wrong because I’m a White man.
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: No, no, no. She just said, I see it differently. She said — she said I see it differently from you which is not an insult. It’s not. And it’s also not a racial insult.
(CROSSTALK)
POLUMBO: It’s also not an explanation why I’m wrong.
PHILLIP: But we have a lot more to discuss on this very topic, so we’ll have some time in the next segment.
Watch above via CNN NewsNight.
