CNN Anchor and Rep. Waltz Clash Over Harris ‘Socialist’ Label, Networks Likening Trump to Hitler
On October 15, 2024, CNN anchor John Berman and Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., engaged in a heated exchange regarding charged rhetoric aimed at Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. The discussion centered on terms like “fascist” and “socialist” used to describe the two presidential candidates. During a recent rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, Vice President Kamala Harris played a mashup of clips in which Trump warned of dangers from “the enemy within.” Trump collectively stated in some of the television clips played, “The worst people are the enemies from within… those people are more dangerous; the enemy within; than Russia and China. These people should be put in jail the way they talk about our judges and our justices.” Trump also quipped that while China and Russia are “dangerous” at times to deal with, “the thing that’s tougher to handle are these lunatics that we have inside like Adam Schiff.” Schiff, a congressman from Burbank, Calif., is currently the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate against Republican retired MLB star Steve Garvey.
Rep. Waltz claimed that Trump was talking about issues detrimental to democracy in the United States and undermining public trust in institutions. He pointed out that Schiff, a senior House Intelligence Committee member, leaked information from compartmented hearings and lied to the public in open hearings. Berman referenced the “lunatic” comment directed at Schiff and suggested that Trump was also talking about dealing with “lunatics” in a hypothetical military deployment. Waltz argued that such language is radicalizing people to take action and noted that some members of Congress have referred to themselves as “democratic socialists.” He insisted that Berman was not making a fair comparison, stating that he believes Marxism is “underpinning” some of Harris’ policies, such as price controls.
Berman tried to draw a comparison between Waltz’s comments about Harris and retired Gen. Mark Milley’s remarks about Trump. Milley reportedly said, “No one has ever been as dangerous to this country as Donald Trump… Now I realize he’s a total fascist. He is the most dangerous person to this country,” according to a new book by journalist Bob Woodward. Berman said, “He’s saying that Donald Trump espouses fascist policies,” and clarified that fascism is a political ideology.
