CNN host Abby Phillip was forced to intervene when a debate nearly spilled over into a physical altercation.
Phillip presided over a particularly tetchy NewsNight on Tuesday. Minutes before podcaster Leigh McGowan went nuclear on MAGA commentator Ben Ferguson, the conservative was involved in another tense interaction with activist philosopher Cornel West.
The panel had been debating heavy-handed ICE tactics, with a particular focus on Minneapolis, Minnesota, where young mother Renee Good was shot dead by an agent earlier this month. West, a one-time long-shot presidential candidate, lamented that the issue had become divided along party lines.
Ferguson, invoking President Donld Trump, then asked whether previous administrations had let criminals flow into the country. He began listing different crimes, blustering on until West cut in with, “OK, how long is your question going to go, brother?”
He touched Ferguson’s wrist at this point. “It’s a long list!” the radio host protested. “I think you got enough in there!” West joked. “Let me tell you what my answer is,” he then said, repeatedly hitting his hand against a still ranting Ferguson.
West agreed that the Democrats had been a “colossal failure” in dealing with the border and began to expand on his point. Ferguson, who had attempted to dominate the debate throughout the show, started to bluster again. He was stopped by West. “Let me finish now, brother!” he snapped, grabbing Ferguson’s other arm, leaning across him and sounding irate.
“All right, all right, Dr. West, everyone keep their hands to themselves now,” a concerned Phillip butted in.
West and Ferguson immediately embraced, and the latter said, “It’s OK, I love this man.”
“You know I wouldn’t go and start swinging on you, you know that?” West said, as both men laughed. Continuing his point, West said it was a “rhetorical swing,” however. Ferguson resumed his opposition.
At this point, host of the Politics Girl podcast Leigh McGowan repeated West’s initial point that the issue of ICE’s tactics had been politicized. She, too, then got into it with Ferguson, whom she scolded for his repeated interruptions.
“You can’t help it, man! Zip it!” she snapped.
