CNN’s Abby Phillip delivered one of her sharpest takedowns yet during a heated segment about President Donald Trump’s latest meltdown — and her comeback left a Trump ally staring into the camera like he’d forgotten how language works.
The explosive exchange unfolded on “NewsNight” as the panel dissected Trump’s wild Truth Social rant accusing six Democratic lawmakers — all military or intelligence veterans — of “seditious behavior” and insisting their supposed “crime should be punishable by death.”
Even longtime Republicans said the president sounded like he had crossed a new authoritarian line.
Iraq War veteran Paul Rieckhoff kicked things off with a sharp rebuke that set off right-wing radio host Ben Ferguson who couldn’t control his urge to interrupt.
Noting the dangerous language and general lack of civility in the president’s message, Rieckhoff said Trump has a “unique responsibility” as commander in chief to “set the tone, to set an example.” He added, Trump “has to be more careful with his language, especially if he talks about things like execution.”
Ferguson interrupted — “so do Democrats” — but Rieckhoff checked him quickly for the second time in minutes. “Could you please let me finish!”
Rieckhoff then continued, “He has to show honor. He has to show integrity. Yesterday, he called a woman piggy. Now he’s calling an astronaut who’s a Navy veteran a traitor. He has to be more careful and precise with his language.”
Ferguson interjected yet again, “Democrats called him a Nazi! A Nazi!”
But the problem for Ferguson — and the setup Phillip saw from a mile away — is that someone much closer to Trump said it too.
Vice President JD Vance himself once compared Trump to Adolf Hitler, calling him “America’s Hitler” in a 2016 message and writing a scathing New York Times op-ed.”
Ferguson apparently forgot all that history as he tried to shout over Rieckhoff, who was warning about the danger in Trump’s rhetoric.
But Phillip calmly hit him with a comeback that left him momentarily speechless. “The sitting vice president also called him a Nazi,” retorted Phillip, “so we can’t go there.”
The camera caught Ferguson’s dumbfounded reaction and it was perfect fodder for online critics.
One wrote on Threads, “Cat got your tongue with that one!”
Another person quipped, “That clown’s face at the end. Hahahaha.” A third commentor chimed in, “I love it when Abby hits them with the comebacks.”
Others called out Ferguson for his own lack of civility. “I know that dude wanted to beat tf out that big ear Howdy Dudey lokkin mf! He a weak ass mediocre loud mouth,” said another Threads user.
“Lmfao his face at the end. But always who raised these people? No manners,” another fumed.
In 2016, Vance wrote in a message to an associate on Facebook, “I go back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical a–hole like Nixon who wouldn’t be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he’s America’s Hitler.”
That same year, Vance penned a New York Times op-ed titled, “Mr. Trump Is Unfit For Our Nation’s Highest Office,” and later admitted to news outlets that he didn’t vote for Trump in the 2016 presidential election.
The vice president has clearly done a 180 on his views. The Hitler comparison surfaced in 2022, when Vance ran for Senate in Ohio, and his spokesperson reportedly did not deny it at the time but said that Vance no longer held those views about Trump.
Following bipartisan criticism, Trump clarified his message on Fox News saying he was “not threatening death” against the Democratic lawmakers in the video, Senators Elissa Slotkin and Mark Kelly, a former astronaut, along with Reps. Chris DeLuzio, Maggie Goodlander, Chrissy Houlahan, and Jason Crow, all of whom are veterans of the military or intelligence community.
