‘This Makes Me Angry!’: MAGA Guest Tries Bizarre Tactic to Shut Down Black Attorney on CNN — He Doesn’t Back Down, Sends Her Spiraling Hard, Then Abby Phillip Steps In
The tension on CNN didn’t just rise — it escalated, as a heated exchange between Bakari Sellers and MAGA commentator Caroline Downey took an increasingly strange turn that eventually forced host Abby Phillip to step in. A Jan. 5 panel discussion on “CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip” descended into chaos over the U.S. invasion of Venezuela and the capture of its President Nicholás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores on drug trafficking charges as MAGA right-wing commentators tried to argue how the attack in fact benefits working class Americans. Political commentator Bakari Sellers was ready for a showdown on CNN with MAGA guest. (Credit: CNN Video Screengrab) Sellers, an attorney and political analyst held Downey's feet to the fire as Phillip tried to maintain control of the discussion, even cutting to a commercial break to end Downey’s rant. The conversation started to go sideways when Sellers tried to clarify both Downey and Batya Ungar-Sargon’s Republican rhetoric-based talking points. Trump Goes Off the Deep End, Loses Track of His Imaginary Story — Then Casually Adds Details As If It’s True and Viewers Say This Slip Is Worse Than Anything They’ve Seen “The question is wrong, the question is wrong,” he began. “And the reason the question is wrong, respectfully … is because people at this table are attempting to articulate that somehow the working class in America has had a rough go at it, right?” “My question to you is, how does the presence of America in Honduras, in Colombia, in Cuba or in Greenland, help working class Americans?” Sellers pointedly asked. That’s when the shouting started, with Downey discounting the fact that the Maduro regime is still in control in Caracas. “If the regime is more stabilized, and I just said before that, we do have a large amount of leverage over Maduro’s deputy, even though she still represents a communist regime,” Downey yelled. “But if it's more stabilized, there will be less migration pushed by poverty. I mean, they might have a chance of prosperity now,” she continued arguing, completely ignoring the question of how a U.S. military invasion of Venezuela benefits average working Americans. “But you didn’t even do regime change,” Sellers shot back. Maduro’s Vice President Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in shortly after U.S. forces captured Maduro in an overnight raid early Saturday morning Jan. 3. The yelling escalated and Downey began speaking in a bizarre manner as if she was talking to children. “We have leverage over that government now because we just abducted its dictator and took him to the United States,” she screamed. That’s when Phillip stepped in to correct her. “You recognize that the problem with the Maduro regime wasn't just Maduro, right? It’s the whole regime,” Phillip pointed out. View on Threads "Listen, listen!" Downey shouted as she spiraled again. Sellers once again put Downey on the spot and found another way to reframe his question about how an American struggling to buy groceries in Detroit, whose car insurance and health care have gone up and whose schools are failing, benefits from a U.S. invasion of Venezuela. Downey started yelling again that “it’s less competition” and less pressure on Americans social safety infrastructure. Viewers took notice of the uneven chaos. "Why is that child in the red dress sitting at the adult table? Who is she? Why is CNN giving a platform to this parroting, immature, unserious “influencer” who treats all of this as just a funny game for clicks?" one viewer asked mockingly. Another Threads poster observed, Notice the white people will happily shout and scream like banshees when it's not their turn to speak and the black people have to remain calm and composed when trying to deal with them. This makes me angry and I'm not an American viewer!” View on Threads “If loud and wrong was a person!! I just can NOT!! Invading Greenland will NOT make my car insurance affordable here in MI ma’am!!! I applaud your patience bc I would have lost my entire S***!!!” another Threads user proclaimed. This Threads user probably said it best: “Let me honest: those ladies aren't there for an honest debate. They are there to yell nonsensical talking points for sound bites to make it look like they're winning an argument. They AREN'T interested in hearing anything outside of abject fealty for Trump. So again I ask, why have them on the show?” Before the segment was over, Phillip had enough and was forced to once again step in, this time to pivot to a commercial break, thankfully ending the insane argument that working Americans have somehow benefitted from the U.S. attack on Venezuela.
