Anderson Cooper Snaps at Nina Turner After She Notes Carnage in Gaza: ‘We Don’t Really Need a Lecture on the Problem’

Anderson Cooper interrupted CNN commentator Nina Turner during the network’s coverage of Tuesday’s Michigan primary as the former Ohio state senator discussed the reluctance of some Arab Americans to back President Joe Biden. The host was adamant that viewers “don’t really need a lecture on the problem” and instead want to hear about “the politics of this tonight.”

Biden won the Democratic primary in Michigan handily, though a sizable bloc of voters selected “Uncommitted,” which Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and other pro-Palestine figures urged voters to do if they are dissatisfied with Biden’s ongoing support of Israel’s military operation in Gaza. That campaign is being carried out in response to the Oct. 7 attacks in which Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped 240 others. Since then, Israel invaded Gaza and has killed approximately 30,000 Palestinians while displacing about 85% of the population of 2.3 million.

During a seven-person panel discussion on the blowout primary victories of Biden and former President Donald Trump, the conversation turned toward the “Uncommitted” protest vote, which as they spoke had notched nearly 16% of the vote.

CNN commentator Bakari Sellers addressed the dynamic before Turner offered her take, which prompted Cooper to interject:

SELLERS: What these voters are doing is raising their voices and saying, “This is an issue that matters to us tonight. This is an issue that matters to us tomorrow. And the White House needs to listen.” And I think the White House is listening to that message. But, you know, this, if he’s able to reel off these successes, then this, then tonight actually will be a success for all and you’ll have a different outcome come November because, I’ll pass it to Nina or whomever can help me understand this. But I don’t think for many voters who are voting “Uncommitted,” that they’re going to vote “Uncommitted” and then say, “Donald Trump is my choice.” I think this is more complicated than that.

TURNER: Yeah, I do agree with you, Bakari. I mean, no one that I interface with said that they wanted to vote for Donald J. Trump. There is a “however” here. And I think sometimes as we talk about this issue, we’re making, we’re centering President Biden. We are centering former President Donald J. Trump when the “Uncommitted” effort is the center, the people closest to the pain and that is the Arab American community, that is the Palestinian community, that is communities that care about peace.

And so while this president was in the ice cream shop saying, “I think there’s going to be a ceasefire,” 30,000 people have been slaughtered. People are living in famine. They can’t get medical care. So, it can’t come soon enough for them. And that was really the weight that I picked up on when I was in Dearborn. So, we get to be comfortable and talk about this like these people are widgets when they are in fact suffering.

And I am young enough to remember, colleagues, when Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and also Congresswoman Cori Bush called for a ceasefire very early on. They were called “abhorrent.” Now, fast-forward to all of these bodies laying in the wake and people are living through this every single day–

COOPER: By the way, there’s also been slaughter in Israel.

SELLERS: I was gonna say.

COOPER: So, there’s a lot of pain on both sides. So, we don’t really need a lecture on the problem. I’m not talking about the politics of this tonight. How, what to you would be a victory as somebody who is calling for this “Uncommitted” vote, what to you would be a victory tonight to get that message across?

TURNER: I’m not denying that pain. All I’m saying, that at a certain point after October the 7 it becomes clear. I mean, you have a right-wing prime minister.

COOPER: We don’t need to debate the issue.

TURNER: But you understand what I’m saying. I’m not denying anybody’s paying. What I am saying is that this president and our country has the power to say to Netanyahu, “We need a permanent ceasefire–”

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: Within reason, though. If I can push back–

TURNER: Wait, one more point. The only time hostages were released is when we had that brief ceasefire. That is another reason why–

SELLERS: But I also have to remind people we had a ceasefire prior to October 7, right? I mean, that’s a point. And I get centering people and I completely understand that. But I think Anderson, your point is valid as well, that there is a lot of pain to go around and we cannot forget that.

Sellers went on to state that the situation calls for “tangible solutions.”

Watch above via CNN.