CNN Host Hits Back at Trump Rant in Devastating Opener Informing Him ‘Slavery Was Indeed Bad’

CNN anchor Abby Phillip hit back at President Donald Trump’s recent rant with a blistering opening commentary informing him that “slavery was indeed bad.”

Trump ranted Tuesday that “The Museums throughout Washington, but all over the Country are, essentially, the last remaining segment of ‘WOKE.’ The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been” in a Truth Social post that went on for a bit.

The screed followed a stunning CNN panel segment last week in which Trump supporter Jillian Michaels raised a similar complaint.

On Tuesday’s edition of CNN NewsNight, Phillip began the show with a searing rejoinder to Trump that included the devastating testimony of a formerly enslaved person:

PHILLIP (on camera): Good evening. I’m Abby Phillip in New York.

Last week on this show, a guest shocked the table by arguing in part that slavery in America can’t just be blamed on one race and that museums put too much focus on the role of white people who participated in that terrible institution. And now tonight, that same argument is being pushed by the president of the United States. Donald Trump says that one of the reasons for his crackdown on Smithsonian Museums is, quote, everything discussed is how bad slavery was.

What we try to do on this program is create a platform for discussion and debate, debate that reflects the very real differences that exist in this country. It’s what echo chambers in our society fail to do, frankly. But on this topic, it’s important to say objectively, slavery was indeed bad. It was evil, the nation’s original sin.

And it is impossible to understand the true history of this country without fully grappling with slavery’s impact simply because of their birthplace and the color of their skin, the bodies and spirits of black men, women, and children, were exploited for profit and power. They were forced onto ships bound by shackles and collars that ripped off their skin. One older man described it as iron entering our souls. Some chose to jump into the waters infested with sharks rather than feel that iron.

Now, once they arrived on this very soil, they were forced to work by way of the whip despite being starved, sleep-deprived, threatened, tortured, physically and psychologically. They were auctioned off, humiliated, fearful, and separated from their families and their children. Black women and girls were raped and sexually assaulted. Many were brutally murdered and mutilated.

Now, this endured for decades, centuries. And even in the places where slavery was not legal, institutions from our banks to universities were built on enslaved labor in both the north and in the south. And for many of the white Americans who did not personally own slaves, they benefited from a caste system that concentrated wealth and political power in their hands.

So, when we acknowledge the existence of black people who operated George Washington’s Mount Vernon, or the black hands that built the White House, we are acknowledging the existence, the perseverance, and the contributions of the souls that white supremacy sought to erase.

Those people built families. They developed a culture. They were the keepers of the faith, cultivators of community, and they are the ones, they are the ones who deserve credit for forcing America to rid itself of the stain of slavery.

Now, all of this information, these stories are from the Smithsonian’s African American History Museum. And I share this not as a lecture for you but as a lesson. America, the superpower is largely possible only because of the superpowers of people who went lifetimes without the same rights of generations who were boosted from their backs.

True history should include everything, yes, the evils and the horrors too. And museums are supposed to be places that protect those stories, the images, the lessons, the very things that inform so much of our current state of our republic, from racism to poverty, no matter how painful, or in the president’s words, how horrible the lesson.

Now, just listen to one formerly enslaved man describe what slavery is like in his own words.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know what I’d rather do? If I thought that I’d ever be a slave again, I take a gun and just end it all right away because you’re nothing but a dog. You’re not a thing but a dog.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Watch above via CNN NewsNight.