CNN anchor Abby Phillp and conservative radio host Erick Erickson sparred on the social platform X after he dubbed her show “an embarrassment.”
“The tag line for NewsNight on CNN is, ‘Abby Phillip delivers a smart, sharp approach to the day’s biggest stories,’” Erickson said Wednesday in a lengthy post. “I have been invited to be on the show several times and have had scheduling conflicts that made it impossible for me to travel for the show. I’m glad. This morning, I told my assistant to politely decline all further invites.”
“The show is an embarrassment and @CNN should be embarrassed to air it,” he added.
Erickson noted the show’s broadcast the night before, saying, “the roundtable again piled on Scott Jennings because the panelists claimed Donald Trump wanted to use the American military to round up American citizens.
“Trump has not said that,” he added. ”His comments have been about illegal aliens. But even, again, Abby Phillip who regularly likes to correct conservative panelists, including Scott Jennings, seemed absolutely confused about basic facts that never penetrate the leftwing echo chamber.”
“In fact, Abby Phillip again tried to correct Scott Jennings and, again, was wrong,” he added.
Trump suggested in October during an appearance on Fox News that the National Guard or military should be employed on Election Day to fight against possible disorder from “the enemy from within,” which he said includes “radical-left lunatics.” He later doubled down on the “enemy from within” remarks and singled out Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)
Erickson said Phillip returned to the president-elect’s “consideration of calling out the National Guard after the 2020 riots” saying instead “that was something Tom Cotton advocated for in the New York Times,” with Trump not doing that.
Phillip then responded to Erickson in her own X post Thursday, saying she has come to the conclusion that he “did not actually watch the show last night and there’s a lot to address in this mostly incorrect tweet.”
“But I’ll start with the most simple one: the discussion last night was, in part, about whether Trump has threatened to [use] the military to address domestic problems (yes, involving US citizens). The answer is very clearly yes,” she said.
Erickson shot back at Phillip in another post, saying she enjoys interjecting, as well as taking action, to “correct conservatives who often are not wrong in what they’ve said,” He added when it comes to progressives, she doesn’t do so as much.
“Again: Sorry you’re unwilling to come on. Still not sure why, if you’re so confident in your views,” Phillip finally replied to the conservative radio host on X.
The Hill has reached out to CNN and the Trump transition team for further comment.
