1776 Project PAC founder Ryan Girdusky's conservatism frequently puts him at odds with leftist panelists on CNN, although for the most part, past engagements have been relatively civil. Things took a turn on Monday's "NewsNight with Abby Phillip" when the titular host of MSNBC's canceled "The Mehdi Hasan Show" insinuated that Girdusky, President Donald Trump, Tucker Carlson, and others with whom he disagreed on matters of policy are Nazis.

Evidently tired of the worn-out liberal smear, Girdusky turned the tables — which was particularly easy given Hasan's reputation for "anti-Israel agitprop" — and made a dark joke about the former Al Jazeera presenter perhaps being a terrorist.

After landing a rhetorical punch that left Hasan repeating himself and the other panelists melting down, Girdusky was kicked off the set and banned from the show.

"You can stay on CNN if you falsely call every Republican a Nazi and have taken money from Qatar-funded media," Girdusky noted afterward on X. "Apparently you can't go on CNN if you make a joke. I'm glad America gets to see what CNN stands for."

Background

Trump held a high-energy campaign event Sunday at Madison Square Garden. The venue was at capacity, and the rally went swimmingly despite the best efforts of Harris supporters to cancel and spoil the event.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and New York state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal likened the event to a Nazi rally at the Garden in 1939, as opposed to the Democratic Party's national conventions at the Garden in 1976, 1980, and 1992.

MSNBC, Time magazine, and various other liberal publications soon dutifully regurgitated the Democrats' suggestion that Trump's campaign event was essentially the Nazi rally of the day — meaning that all those present, including 94-year-old Holocaust survivor Jerry Wartski, were themselves Nazis or Nazi sympathizers.

Counterstrike

On Monday, CNN host Abby Phillip and Girdusky debated whether the media had just defamed Trump or all those in attendance at the Garden rally.

Hasan, an exponent of the false narrative about the Hunter Biden laptop story, chimed in to defend the media's characterization.

According to Hasan, there were even more examples from the rally that were reminiscent of the exterminationists of yesteryear.

There was still Tucker Carlson doing replacement. Don Jr. did replacement. And then Trump himself turned up and talked about invading and occupying our country, which is the language of the far right. He talked about enemy of the people, which is Joseph Goebbels. He talked about the enemy within, which is literally Hitler. I mean, these are the — my problem is — I get it, which [is] nobody wants to be called Nazis. It's very inflammatory.

"If you don't want to be called Nazis, stop doing, stop saying —" said Hasan, at which point Girdusky leaned forward to point out that the Israel critic was casting stones from a glass house.

"You're called an anti-Semite more than anyone in this table," said Girdusky.

'It is fine to call anyone on the political right a Nazi.'

"I'm a supporter of the Palestinians," said Hasan. "I'm used to it."

"Yes. Well, I hope your beeper doesn't go off," responded Girdusky.

Israel hid explosives inside pagers used by Hezbollah terrorists and triggered them in September, killing at least 11 individuals and injuring over 4,000 others in Lebanon and parts of Syria.

Hasan did his best to misconstrue Girdusky's dark humor into a death wish.

"Did you just say I should die?" said Hasan. "Did you just say I should be killed?"

Girdusky apologized, indicating that was not his meaning and that he thought Hasan had signaled support for Hamas. Phillip attempted to intervene, but there was no consoling Hasan.

"You just said I should get killed on live TV," said Hasan. "You said you hope my beeper shouldn't go off."

Former Biden-Harris campaign staffer Ashley Allison fed on Hasan's rage and berated Girdusky, weaving criticism of the conservative into yet another attack on Trump.

After more hand-wringing, the show went to break.

Banned

Phillip began the next segment — from which Girdusky was noticeably absent — with an apology, not to the conservative for the Nazi smear, but to Hasan for the beeper joke.

"I want to apologize to Mehdi Hasan for what was said at this table. It was completely unacceptable. When we get this discussion started, you'll see that Ryan is not at the table. There is a line that was crossed there, and it's not acceptable to me," said Phillip. "It's not acceptable to us at this network. We want discussion. We want people who disagree with each other to talk to each other. But when you cross the line of a complete lack of civility, that is not going to happen here on this show."

CNN confirmed to Blaze News that Girdusky "will not be welcomed back at our network."

In response to questions about whether Nazi and terrorist accusations were weighted differently and whether Hasan might also face repercussions, CNN stated, "There is zero room for racism or bigotry at CNN or on our air. We aim to foster thoughtful conversations and debate including between people who profoundly disagree with each other in order to explore important issues and promote mutual understanding. But we will not allow guests to be demeaned or for the line of civility to be crossed."

Phillip revealed late Monday night that CNN has asked Hasan back, portraying the leftist who previously suggested that non-Muslims are subhuman and that all homosexuals are pedophiles as a victim.

"We really hope that he will join us again soon," said Phillip.

Blaze News reached out to Girdusky for comment but did not receive a response by deadline.

"It is fine to call anyone on the political right a Nazi," tweeted Max Abrahms, associate professor of political science at Northeastern University. "It is not okay to call an antisemitic Qatar agent who runs PR for terrorists a terrorist."

Sean Davis, co-founder of the Federalist, said of the comment that got Girdusky ousted, "Absolutely legendary comeback, and a clinic on the only way to handle garbage corporate media.

Jack Posobiec, senior editor at Human Events, noted, "Understand what just happened[.] Mehdi Hasan called Ryan Girdusky, a Polish-American, a Nazi[.] Ryan responded with a quip about beepers[.] Ryan was kicked off, and CNN apologized to Hasan for his comments[.] That's how it works at CNN."

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