Harris Camp Links Vance to Commentator CNN Retired for 'Racism'

“The October Surprise is an Advent calendar of racism,” wrote Ben Collins, CEO of satirical news site The Onion, late Monday night on Trump has been repeatedly beaten by his own supporters – first a speaker at his Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday, followed by a sympathetic commentator on CNN, both making “jokes” at the expense of minorities who could prove crucial to the election outcome.

Read more: How a racist joke about Puerto Rico at a Trump rally could impact the election

During a discussion about the fallout from Trump's Madison Square Garden rally on the program News NightGuest panelist Mehdi Hasan – a British progressive pundit and former MSNBC host – urged Trump supporters: “If you don't want to be called Nazis, stop it -“

But before he could finish his sentence, fellow panelist Ryan Girdusky, a political consultant who publicly supports Trump, told Hasan: “You are being called an anti-Semitic more than anyone else at this table.”

“I’m a supporter of the Palestinians, so I’m used to it,” Hasan replied, before Girdusky shot back: “Well, I hope your beeper doesn’t go off.”

The apparent reference to a recent attack on suspected Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, in which pagers and radios exploded, sparked an immediate reaction from Hasan and the rest of the panel. “Are you a racist, violent person who incites violence against me?” Hasan asked. “This is disgusting,” said another panelist.

Girdusky claimed he misunderstood Hasan. “I thought he said Hamas. I apologize.”

After a commercial break, host Abby Phillip apologized to viewers and Hasan for the “completely unacceptable” remark in the previous segment and said that Girdusky had been removed from the panel. “We want a discussion, we want people who disagree to talk to each other, but if you cross the line into a complete lack of civility, that's not going to happen here on this show,” she said. “We can have conversations about what’s happening in this country without resorting to the lowest form of discourse.”

Hasan was also missing from the next segment, although Phillip said in a post on X after the show that he was not asked to leave. Phillip also shared a statement from CNN that said, “There is no room for racism or bigotry at CNN…Ryan Girdusky will not be welcome on our network again.”

In a post on Apparently you can't go on CNN if you make a joke. I’m glad America sees what CNN stands for.”

As clips of the incident went viral on social media, campaign officials for Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris quickly seized the opportunity to link Girdusky to GOP vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance of Ohio.

Ian Sams, Harris' spokesman, shared on Girdusky explained his relationship with Vance in the interview. “In 2020, he contacted me on Twitter and we had developed a friendship,” Girdusky said. “When Sen. Rob Portman announced he was resigning, I called him and said, 'If you're running, I want to be on the team.'” Girdusky became an adviser to Vance's super PAC for the 2022 Senate race, Protect Ohio Values.

James Singer, a rapid response adviser for the Harris campaign, also posted on The organization, for which Girdusky is listed as an adviser and Vance as a former board member, was an early partner of the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation and helped create Project 2025, the right-wing blueprint for the presidential transition that Trump and Vance have tried to create. despite many connections, distancing himself from it due to his controversial and extreme agenda.