CNN’s Thunderdome, more commonly referred to as NewsNight with Abby Phillip, was particularly lively tonight. Given the issue array, there was bound to be fireworks. And sure enough, there were.
The show began with discussion of President Donald Trump’s decision to pause the global retaliatory tariffs and put pressure on China, and drifted to Greenland on account of their rare earth minerals.
After responding to a personal insult, Scott Jennings gets accused of levying a personal insult pic.twitter.com/kZUTIzcKMk
– Jorge Bonilla (@Bonillajl) April 10, 2025
TIFFANY CROSS: It’s the colonizers attitude to say, I like it, I’m just going to steal it. Now, the fact of the matter is…
SCOTT JENNINGS: Steal what?
CROSS: In this new… land, land, you cannot just go and say, I like it, it’s mine now. It doesn’t work that way. Well, that that is what they’re trying to do. And in this new world order. Yeah, absolutely. When they’re looking at Greenland and say, I like it, I want to take it for mine. That is a very colonizer attitude.
(CROSSTALK)
JENNINGS: I have never, ever said we’re going to go to Greenland and quote, colonize it. Or steal it. That’s crazy.
CROSS: I’m not even talking about you. You’re not a member of government so you’re irrelevant at that point. I’m talking about the President of the United States.>> You got fired from your job.
(CROSSTALK)
JENNINGS: You got fired from your job, how relevant are you?
Ana Navarro: C’Mon Scott…
JENNINGS: You want to insult me,,,
CROSS: Scott, if you want to engage in personal insults,
JENNINGS:I don’t. But you do.
CROSS: What you lack in a legitimate point. You make up for it in your personal-
JENNINGS: I don’t.
CROSS: Your personal insults. The point I am making is in this new world order, we are looking at countries, whether or not they’re an adversary or ally. It is being determined on what kind of deal we can get. And we cannot govern that way.
JENNINGS: Why?
CROSS: We cannot legislate that way. We are increasingly isolated on the world stage.
JENNINGS: No, we’re not.
CROSS: So if you want to engage in personal insults, I would reserve that for your party,
JENNINGS: We’re not isolated.
(CROSSTALK)
Shortly thereafter, The View co-host Ana Navarro walked right into not one but two clownings by conservative commentator Scott Jennings:
After responding to a personal insult, Scott Jennings gets accused of levying a personal insult pic.twitter.com/kZUTIzcKMk
– Jorge Bonilla (@Bonillajl) April 10, 2025
ANA NAVARRO: Serious- I think he’s shown people that he’s crazy, that he’s mercurial. Honestly, if it was Kamala Harris behaving this way, they’d call her hormonal and hysterical, right? Look.
SCOTT JENNINGS: We’d have to get elected to be- well…
NAVARRO: Well, yes. And if she had been elected and she- and if Hillary Clinton had been elected, if any woman had been elected and been…been acting this way, they’d say it was menopause.
JENNINGS: She would have never stood up to China. So I think this is a mood issue, right?
The conversation on trade and tariffs dominated the show. On the panel was CNN Business editor Richard Quest, last seen bemoaning the potential tariffing of Tam Tams. Watch as Quest completely denies the existence of the 2022 recession:
CNN’s Richard Quest engages in gross recession denialism: „And people like myself did believe that there was going to be a U.S. recession, because we suddenly thought, you can’t go from zero to whatever percent and not have a recession. We didn’t because of the resilience of this… pic.twitter.com/YxHVwGCSzk
– Jorge Bonilla (@Bonillajl) April 10, 2025
ABBY PHILLIP:Did you recall a period of time when the markets believed, with this degree of certainty, that there was a recession coming in the calendar?
RICHARD QUEST: Yes.
JENNINGS: 2022.
QUEST: Yes. The walls-
JENNINGS: 2022.
QUEST: The walls, the walls. But it was for- it was- it was a much more, it was- it was a it was a slow burner in, in a sense. And it came about because of the Fed raising interest rates at such a precipitous rate that we’d never seen before. And people like myself did believe that there was going to be a U.S. recession, because we suddenly thought, you can’t go from zero to whatever percent and not have a recession. We didn’t because of the resilience of this extraordinary economy, which was able to keep going. But there wasn’t the level of chaos surrounding it. You had measured- they were very fast, faster than we’ve ever seen before. And yes, I thought there would be a recession. I thought, yeah.
ANA NAVARRO: But it wasn’t from that- by one man, but the president.
This is some premier recession denialism, as embodied by Quest. 2022 had two quarters of negative growth, the classic definition of a recession, but the media were no longer interested in actual facts. Here’s a reminder, via NPR:
And, finally, in the most heated exchange of the night, commentator Shermichael Singleton lets former MSNBC host Tiffany Cross have it over her continuous tone-policing and hectoring.
„NOBODY IS GOING TO DICTATE THE WAY I ANSWER QUESTIONS“: @MrShermichael Singleton blows the Thunderdome panel up pic.twitter.com/1G4l84Ta3w
– Jorge Bonilla (@Bonillajl) April 10, 2025
ABBY PHILLIP: He signed two executive orders ordering investigations, weaponizing his Justice Department against people who just disagree with him. How does that- how do you justify that?
SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON: You know, politically, my advice to to the president on this one would be continue to focus on strengthening the economy. You got to figure out a way to bring down costs. Keep doing what you’re doing as it pertains to immigration. We need to increase chip manufacturing within the United States. There are several political things that I.
(CROSSTALK)
>PHILLIP: All right, Shermichael, I get it, I get it. Yes. He should focus on the economy. He should. But what do you think about the fact that he’s targeting his political enemies, using executive orders and telling his Justice Department.
SINGLETON: I just don’t focus on it.
(CROSSTALK)
SINGLETON: Ccan I answer?
CROSS:: You haven’t answered.
SINGLETON: Well.
CROSS: No, wait a minute. But you have not answered.
SINGLETON: But I did answer. I just didn’t answer the way you wanted me to answer. You don’t get to dictate my comments to my response on this show.
CROSS: You are not directed to the issue that she asked. And furthermore…
SINGLETON: …because my response was the focus should be…okay..
PHILLIP: Hang on one second
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: Hang on one second. Tiffany, one second. I mean, Shermichael. You’re a friend of the show. You’re my friend. Please answer the question. I mean.
SINGLETON: I answered the question the way I want-
PHILLIP: But but no.
SINGLETON: No, no, I’m going to dictate the way I answer questions. On this show. You may not like the way I answered the question, but I gave an answer. No, I don’t like that. We’re not the question we’re not going to do dictating reply the way I want you to reply. Then just don’t ask me a question. If you’re not, if you don’t like my response, I mean, this is ridiculous,
PHILLIP: Shermichael. You don’t get to…
SINGLETON: Do we not live in a democracy now?
PHILLIP: You don’t get to…
SINGLETON: I mean, we talked a lot about a democracy tonight. I gues just not on THIS show.
PHILLIP: You don’t get to just change the subject to. Avoid having to say something that might be perceived as negative about Donald Trump.
(CROSSTALK)
SINGLETON: You just didn’t like my answer to your question.
PHILLIP: That’s what- well, that’s what it seems like. If you were a politician, a regular person on the street would say, well that sounds like spin to me.
A man can only take so much, before he has to speak up. Demanding that he answer the question in a manner satisfactory to the rest of the panel was a bridge too far.
Thunderdome was wild tonight.
