“The October Surprise is an advent calendar of racism,” Ben Collins, CEO of satire news site The Onion, posted on X late Monday night. With just a week remaining in the U.S. presidential race, Republican nominee former President Donald Trump’s campaign has been dealt back-to-back blows by its own supporters—first a speaker at his rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, followed by a sympathetic commentator on CNN, both of whom made “jokes” at the expense of minorities that 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 NewsNight, guest panelist Mehdi Hasan—a British, progressive pundit and former MSNBC host—challenged Trump supporters: “If you don’t want to be called Nazis, stop doing—”
But before he could finish his sentence, fellow panelist Ryan Girdusky, a political consultant who publicly supports Trump, told Hasan: “You’re called an anti-semite more than anyone else at this table.”
“I’m a supporter of the Palestinians, so I’m used to it,” Hasan responded, 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 involving exploding pagers and radios sparked instant reaction from Hasan and the rest of the panel. “Are you a racist, violent person, inciting violence against me?” Hasan asked. “That’s disgusting,” another panelist said.
Girdusky claimed he misheard Hasan. “I thought he said Hamas. I apologize.”
After a commercial break, host Abby Phillip apologized to viewers and to Hasan for the “completely unacceptable” remark made during the previous segment and said that Girdusky was dismissed from the panel. “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,” she said. “We can have conversations about what is happening in this country without resorting to the lowest of the lowest kind of discourse.”
Hasan was also absent in the next segment, though Phillip said in a post on X after the show that he was not asked to leave. Phillip also shared a statement from CNN, which said: “There is zero room for racism or bigotry at CNN … Ryan Girdusky will not be welcomed back at our network.”
In a post on X later Monday night, Girdusky apparently responded, saying: “You can stay on CNN if you falsely call every Republican a Nazi and have taken money from Qatar-funded media. Apparently you can’t go on CNN if you make a joke. I’m glad America gets to see what CNN stands for.”
As clips of the incident went viral on social media, campaign officials for Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris swiftly seized the moment to connect Girdusky to GOP vice presidential nominee Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance.
Ian Sams, Harris’ spokesperson, shared a clip on X of an appearance Girdusky made on NewsMax in July in which Vance was described as Girdusky’s “friend and former boss” whom he “worked very closely with.” Girdusky explained his relationship with Vance in the interview. “In 2020, he reached out to me over Twitter, and we had built a friendship,” Girdusky said. “When Sen. Rob Portman announced his retirement, I called him and I said, ‘If you’re running, I want to be on the team.’” Girdusky became an adviser to Vance’s 2022 Senate race super PAC, Protect Ohio Values.
James Singer, a rapid response adviser for the Harris’ campaign, also shared photos on X of Vance and Girdusky from the website of American Moment—a group focused on recruiting and training “the next generation of Republican elites,” according to Politico. The organization, for which Girdusky is listed as an adviser and Vance as a former board member, was an early partner with conservative think-tank the Heritage Foundation in helping to create Project 2025, the right-wing presidential transition blueprint that Trump and Vance have tried to distance themselves from, despite many connections, due to its controversial and extreme agenda.