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
Appearing on a Mediaweek panel alongside CNN colleague—and TVNewser founder—Brian Stelter, Phillip made it clear she didn’t regard Girdusky’s “beeper” remark as a joke, calling it “beyond the pale.”
“We had to get everybody to calm down, that was the first thing,” Phillip said while explaining how she sought to get the show back on track. “This is a charged time for the country and a charged time in our politics. We want to talk to each other, but people have to be able to hear you.”
Both Phillip and Stelter agreed that the viral NewsNight moment encapsulates the divisions currently running through the country at large. “We can pretend it’s not happening, but we do ourselves a disservice if we pretend it’s not happening,” Stelter remarked, calling out something else he noticed in Girdusky’s line of argument.
“Before he went off the rails… Ryan said he feels like the media is calling all Trump supporters Nazis,” the Reliable Sources author said. “Now I would say that’s flatly untrue… but he feels that in his gut. Lots of people have those feelings that are unhinged from facts, but are totally warping our political discussions.”
“I think sometimes television sanitizes that and pretends that it’s not happening,” Stelter added. “It pretends like people aren’t living in their own reality bubbles. So to have our bubbles burst once in a while is a good thing.”
For her part, Phillip suggested that those bubble bursting moments thankfully remain a rarity in cable news. “Most of the time when we see Republicans and Democrats talking on TV, they’re not that far apart—and that’s a hopeful reflection of what’s going on in America,” she said. “People are so much more cordial than they seem.”
