MAGA Pundit "Jokes" About Assassinating Journalist Mehdi Hasan
Project 2025 advisor Ryan Girdusky spewed to Hasan, "I hope your beeper doesn't go off," exhibiting racism that forces us to ask—why did CNN invite him in the first place?
A CNN panel discussion with Abby Philips on Monday night addressed the grotesque racism at Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden. In my column yesterday I documented much of that racism. Citing that racism, Mehdi Hasan, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Zeteo News asserted that it absolutely aligned with Nazi ideology. Hasan further asserted that he proudly speaks up for the Palestinian people—an especially important point given the anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian rhetoric at Trump’s rally. In response, right wing pundit Ryan Girdusky retorted to Mehdi , “I hope your beeper doesn’t go off,”—a clear reference to Israel’s mass beeper attack that killed at least 32 people, including two children, and injured 3000. An attack that UN experts deem a war crime, but one Girdusky apparently finds incredibly funny.
As you watch the exchange below, consider the deeper issue about how ingrained and frighteningly normalized white supremacy is in modern discourse? This includes, for example, that Girdusky previously wrote for a Nazi publication, yet was invited by CNN on air anyway. Why? Let’s Address This.
Girdusky’s History of Racism
Many on the right are defending Girdusky’s racist comment, claiming it was reactive to Hasan calling him a Nazi. I continue to receive ongoing comments to this effect.
There’s only one problem with this absurd line of argument—Hasan called out Girdusky and the right due to documented examples of racism and actual Nazis at Trump rallies, while Girdusky maligned Hasan for daring to speak up for Palestinian civilians. Hasan is calling out literal Nazis. Girdusky is “joking” about killing a journalist, echoing the fascist rhetoric from Donald Trump himself. The two positions are not the same.
Indeed, Girdusky’s racist remarks on CNN are not isolated, but are part of his long and sordid history of racism and bigotry against minority communities. And apparently, none of which disqualified him from earning an invite from CNN. Girdusky’s history and contemporary acts of racism include but is not limited to:
Girdusky is the founder of 1776 Project PAC, which is currently working to elect extremist candidates to school boards nationwide. How? By banning teaching critical race theory in public school (it already isn’t taught) and by banning efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in public schools (which has meant banning books by Black and LGBTQ authors). Girdusky’s 1776 Project PAC doesn’t only engage in xenophobia—it also engages in illegal activity. In October, 2023, the Maryland State Board of Elections fined 1776 Project PAC over $20,000 for violating state election law during school board elections.
Girdusky sits on the board of an anti-immigrant non-profit known as “American Moment,” which seeks to restrict all immigration to the United States—which is also a main policy platform for America’s white supremacist movements.
Girdusky has also given favorable and soft ball interviews to The Proud Boys, which is one of the white supremacist organizations Donald Trump famously refused to condemn and instead told to “stand back and stand by.”
Girdusky is also an advisor to Project 2025, which as I’ve written at length, invites fascism to America. A reminder that Project 2025 seeks to strip basic reproductive rights for hundreds of millions of women in America, legalize anti-LGBTQ discrimination, ban immigration, deport 11 million plus immigrants, and criminalize any discussion of diversity in any government setting.
But perhaps most ironic about Girdusky feigning outrage at being compared to Nazis is that he has openly written for a literal Nazi named Richard Spencer—a fact Spencer confirmed on Twitter after Girdusky’s CNN interview.
Yes, Girdusky Wrote for a Nazi
The Southern Poverty Law Center calls Richard Spencer, “one of the country’s most successful young white nationalist leaders.” When Trump won in 2016, Spencer openly celebrated with Nazi salutes, screaming, “Hail Trump.” And lest Girdusky claim Spencer was somehow not a white nationalist “back then,” VICE News quotes Spencer in October of 2013:
Our dream is a new society, an ethno-state that would be a gathering point for all Europeans. It would be a new society based on very different ideals than, say, the Declaration of Independence.
How is Spencer’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and policy driven by white supremacy different than the rhetoric at the Trump rally which called to end all immigration and to round up and deport 11 million Latino immigrants? The answer is, it isn’t, and that’s the fundamental problem Hasan (and many on the left) call out.
CNN’s Response to Girdusky’s Racism
Finally, after spewing his racist comment at Hasan, Girdusky initially doubled down on his comment. Moments later on air he reversed his position and pretended to apologize to Hasan in a backhanded non-apology. During break CNN removed Girdusky from the panel and sent him home, issuing the following statement:
And after being sent home for his racism, Girdusky reversed his position yet again, apparently retracted his non-apology, and tripled down on his racism, defending his racist, ridiculous, and potentially violent threat to Hasan once more. He tweeted:
It should disturb anyone with a conscience that Girdusky sees a war crime that killed innocent children and thinks, “that’s hilarious.” It is also fascinating that Girdusky complains that Hasan “falsely called every Republican a Nazi,” but is Girdusky—as someone who regularly fraternizes with white supremacists—really the example to follow? And while I am glad CNN issued a swift statement condemning Girdusky’s overt racism, making it clear that he would no longer be welcome on CNN, the question remains—why was he invited in the first place?
Given his well documented history of Islamophobia, anti-Black racism, misogyny, and antisemitism in fraternizing with white supremacists—even working for an avowed white supremacist—why does CNN platform xenophobes like Girdusky at all? Indeed, are there no Republicans left to invite who have cleared the very low bar of not working for a notorious white supremacist? If not, then it speaks to the point of the entire CNN conversation in the first place—the Trump rally at Madison Square Garden was indistinguishable from a Nazi rally, because for all intents and purposes it was a Nazi rally.
Girdusky’s Racism is a Symptom of a Bigger Problem
The bottom line is this. Girdusky is the symptom of a greater problem of the systemic racism that permeates so much of our political, media, and public discourse. Take note that Hasan’s ‘crime’ was merely stating that he is willing to speak up for the people of Palestine, which is why he condemned the hateful anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim rhetoric from Giuliani and others at the MSG rally. And in response to this basic statement of standing up for a marginalized community, Girdusky, a man with a history of writing for a Nazi, decided to also demonize Hasan and insinuate he deserves assassination for daring to speak up. This is 2024 America, and this is the hateful and violent rhetoric Trump is empowering. Deplatforming Girdusky from CNN is a step, but we must do so more to hold all media accountable to stop platforming such extreme voices in the first place. As I wrote yesterday regarding Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden:
As a society, we have to demand more from our leaders, our media, and ourselves. With just days before the Presidential election, it is critical we build our coalition and rally our voices to ensure Donald Trump does not reenter the White House. He is telling us who he is, the fascism he plans to enact, and the violence he will use to enforce his will. Let there be no confusion about his intentions. And let there be no doubt in what we must do—reject this hate and violence, and vote in overwhelming numbers to prevent fascism from taking hold in the United States. Make a plan to vote, and take your circle of family and friends with you.
A Trump victory will ensure known xenophobes like Girdusky, and many more like him, become even more emboldened in their hate, than they already are. The solution to this hate is not violence or threats—but a mass movement of people committed to absolute justice and human dignity. This next week will decide the long term future of our nation, and indeed of our planet. Let us make sure our voices and votes prevent a return of the former guy, and instead give our nation the chance to uphold democracy and human rights—yes, even for American Muslims who dare to speak up for Palestinian humanity.
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If an organization leases Madison Square Garden, organizes those speakers this was an unsubtle dog whistle. Trump’s wet dream of the repeat of the 1939 Nazi Rally.
There are other stadiums, in other parts of the country more likely to vote Trump.
The message could be more tempered. A “comedian” less vulgar.
Pretending this not a Nazi rally is ridiculous. Pretending this guy is not a Nazi offends my intelligence.
Shame on CNN for ever giving this person air time.
Don't want to be called a Nazi? Don't be a Nazi. It's really pretty simple. The pager reference was so incredibly vile, as is any platform that features Girdusky.