CNN Anchor Torches Trump For Erasing Black Icons and Exalting ‘Confederate Traitors’: ‘What Are We Doing Here?’

CNN anchor Abby Phillip torched President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for erasing “women and people of color” from history while honoring “Confederate traitors.”

News broke Tuesday that Hegseth has ordered the renaming of a ship that honored Navy veteran and Civil Rights icon Harvey Milk, and is considering doing the same for ships honoring Thurgood Marshall, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Harriet Tubman, Dolores Huerta, Lucy Stone, Cesar Chavez, Medgar Evers, and others.

On Tuesday night’s edition of CNN NewsNight, Phillip was joined by a panel consisting of Cornel West, Joe Borelli, Xochitl Hinojosa, and Shermichael Singleton.

A stunned Phillip connected the series of decisions to Trump’s history of comments defending Confederate figures and asked “What are we doing here?”:

PHILLIP: I mean, Harriet Tubman, talk about warrior ethos.

WEST: Absolutely.

PHILLIP: Okay?

SINGLETON: Gun toting, you know, I’m a gun person.

PHILLIP: I mean —

(CROSSTALKS)

PHILLIP: I mean, what are we doing here? Is the idea just that if you are a woman, if you are a person of color in American history, you don’t get remembered or recorded on a ship. But if you are a Confederate traitor to this country, you do. I mean, Donald Trump back in 2017 said it was sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments. You can’t change history, but you can learn from it. Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, I mean, that’s worth defending, but not Harriet Tubman, Thurgood Marshall, Medgar Evers?

SINGLETON: Medgar Evers, Harriet Tubman, I think their names should stay on the ships. I mean, these were incredible Americans who withstood insurmountable odds, I mean, certainly things that, hell, I certainly couldn’t imagine today, Abby, in the modern sense. And I would argue, you know, thinking about the warrior ethos, particularly Harriet Tubman, I mean, this is someone who I think really embodies what you would want in a warrior, someone with a level of courage and magnanimity. You talked about this once before, Doctor, a couple years ago. And so I would certainly think she would be someone who would instill the sense of pride and fearlessness you would want in your warriors.

I’m not exactly sure why the secretary is making this decision. I know he says he wants to move in a different direction. But those three individuals in particular, I think we should leave their names on the ship.

Watch above via CNN NewsNight.