Brad Polumbo Goes Two For Two Arguing With Panelists On CNN #Political
On Monday's CNN NewsNight, host Abby Phillip asked panelists about recent comments from former President Obama, where he called on Democrats to stop "whining" when it comes to winning back the presidency. Substack writer Brad Polumbo called out political commentators Ana Navarro and Maria Cardona for fearmongering, playing the race card, and lying when they responded to Phillip’s questions.
Polumbo instantly called out Navarro after she said people were “Defying the fear, defying the reign of terror and retribution that Donald Trump is trying to impose on America,” when talking about the No Kings protests:
No, I mean, I understand what you’re saying, I think you’re definitely being hyperbolic, you talk about a reign of terror. When the doomsday alarm from Democrats or from media critics is always at a ten, it doesn’t hit the same.
Polumbo went on to say it’s not specifically how the Democrats deliver their messaging, it’s that their policies are unpopular to begin with. Polumbo cited gender transitioning minors as one message that’s unpopular, leading to this exchange:
POLUMBO: The Democrats have allowed themselves to become the party that stood in almost uniform behind child sex changes across America--
MARIA CARDONA: That's just not true—
POLUMBO: I’m sorry, I can explain it in 30 seconds how true it is. Joe Biden brought Dylan Mulvaney to the White House for an interview, talking about how important it was to keep those procedures legal in all 50 states. Every Democrat after the recent Supreme Court decision, almost every Democrat in Washington, put out a statement decrying it, that states would dare regulate puberty blockers being given to 11 or 12 year olds. On the border, on inflation, there are many issues where it’s not a messaging issue, the policy is also the problem for Democrats.
CARDONA: So, what I would say is that on that piece, that is not true. Democrats did not campaign on that.
POLUMBO: Transitioning minors is not dignified; it’s abhorrent.
CARDONA: Did Democrats defend the dignity of the LGBTQ, including the trans community? Yes, and they will continue to do that. What I will say is that Republicans totally used that issue, completely weaponized, lying about what Kamala was running on, lying about what Democrats were lying on, and they did it brilliantly, and we didn’t fight back enough.
Unfortunately for Maria Cardona, saying something isn’t true doesn’t magically make it so. She falsely claimed Democrats didn’t even campaign on the issue, but in a 2019 ACLU questionnaire, Kamala checked yes on a box asking if she would use executive power to ensure transgender people would receive transition drugs in prison.
Cardona then went on to say “You see in all of the polls, Democratic policies absolutely are incredibly popular.” In voter trust, Harris polled 24% on the economy, 13% on immigration, and 18% on crime.
Ironically, a CNN poll in March of 2025 put the Democratic parties favorability at 29 percent!
Later in the segment, Navarro decided to bring up Polumbo calling her hyperbolic:
NAVARRO: Also, I want to respond to you saying that I was hyperbolic when I talked about a reign of terror—
POLUMBO: Because that is hyperbolic.
NAVARRO: No, it might be hyperbolic for you as a white man.
POLUMBO: Oh, okay—
NAVARRO: It’s certainly not hyperbolic for me as a Latino—
POLUMBO: So, we’re being racist now.
Navarro, while trying to dismiss Polumbo’s opinion by calling him a “white man,” tried to speak for all members of the Latino community when it came to the Trump administration's decisions.
Phillip also tried to shame Polumbo, “I'm going to pause on this conversation because we're — we're about to have a whole conversation about that very thing. But I just want to make a point that Brad — all she's saying is that her view of the situation is different from yours. I don't think that's an insult.”
Navarro, meanwhile, tried her best to conflate the targeting of illegal immigrants to the entirety of Latinos in America. Navarro, a legal U.S. citizen with nothing to worry about in the way of ICE, also has an estimated net worth of over $5 million and rakes in an estimated $250,000 a year.
The full transcript is below. Click "expand" to view:
CNN’s Newsnight with Abby Phillips
10:24:28 PM ET
July 14th, 2025
(...)
ANA NAVARRO: There were protests in thousands of cities, millions of people out there protesting, in small cities and big cities, in small protests and huge protests. Defying the fear, defying the reign of terror and retribution that Donald Trump is trying to impose on America, and so I think people are doing it. I don’t know that this idea of let’s find a messiah that leads Democrats out of the wilderness is going to work. I think he’s right on that, but I see daily people rising up, amplifying the abuses that are happening under this administration and fighting back in their own ways. Whether it's on social media, whether it’s showing up in a protest, whether it’s showing up to vote in some of these special elections, I see them doing it.
BRAD POLUMBO: No, I mean, I understand what you’re saying, I think you’re definitely being hyperbolic, you talk about a reign of terror. When the doomsday alarm from Democrats or from media critics is always at a ten, it doesn’t hit the same, honestly, and I think Obama’s falling into the messaging trap. The issue for Democrats is not just the messaging, a lot of them seem to think that, “Well, if we just got the messaging right, America would love our ideas.” Actually, no, a lot of their ideas are deeply unpopular. The Democrats have allowed themselves to become the party that stood in almost uniform behind child sex changes across America—
MARIA CARDONA: That's just not true—
POLUMBO: I’m sorry, I can explain it in 30 seconds how true it is. Joe Biden brought Dylan Mulvaney to the White House for an interview, talking about how important it was to keep those procedures legal in all 50 states. Every Democrat after the recent Supreme Court decision, almost every Democrat in Washington, put out a statement decrying it, that states would dare regulate puberty blockers being given to 11 or 12 year olds. On the border, on inflation, there are many issues where it’s not a messaging issue, the policy is also the problem for Democrats.
CARDONA: So, what I would say is that on that piece, that is not true. Democrats did not campaign on that, did Democrats defend the dignity of the LGBTQ, including the trans community? Yes, and they will continue to do that.
POLUMBO: Transitioning minors is not dignified, it’s abhorrent.
CARDONA: What I will say is that Republicans totally used that issue, completely weaponized, lying about what Kamala was running on, lying about what Democrats were lying on, and they did it brilliantly, and we didn’t fight back enough.
POLUMBO: I think they were nasty, I think they were toxic in their rhetoric, but it wasn’t a lie. The underline thing was not a lie.
CARDONA: Now, what I also will say, you see in all of the polls, is that Democratic policies absolutely are incredibly popular.
(...)
10:31:27 PM
NAVARRO: Also, I want to respond to you saying that I was hyperbolic when I talked about a reign of terror—
POLUMBO: Because that is hyperbolic.
NAVARRO: No, it might be hyperbolic for you as a white man.
POLUMBO: Oh, okay—
NAVARRO: It’s certainly not hyperbolic for me as a Latino—
POLUMBO: So, we’re being racist now.
NAVARRO: No, I’m not being racist.
POLUMBO: To dismiss my opinion for being a white man is racist.
NAVARRO: No! I’m not dismissing your opinion—
POLUMBO: Yes you are.
NAVARRO: I am telling you that what the Latino community, the brown community—
POLUMBO: A lot of them disagree with you, you do not speak in one voice for them.
NAVARRO: Well then let me speak with my voice, you said I was being hyperbolic, let me respond.
POLUMBO: You insulted me racially, sure.
NAVARRO: I’m not ra—- being a white man is an insult
POLUMBO: When you invoke it to dismiss my opinion—
NAVARRO: Being a white man is an insult?
POLUMBO: When you invoke it to dismiss my opinion? Yes. When you invoke as an argument—
NAVARRO: Do you think Latinos are living under circumstances that other people may not be right now, in this country?
ABBY PHILLIP: I'm going to pause on this conversation because we're -- we're about to have a whole conversation about that very thing. But I just want to make a point that Brad -- all she's saying is that her view of the situation is different from yours. I don't think that's an insult.
POLUMBO: She basically said, I'm wrong because I'm a white man.
PHILLIP: No, no, no. She just said, I see it differently.
[Crosstalk]
She said -- she said I see it differently from you which is not an insult. It's not. And it's also not a racial insult.
POLUMBO: It's also not an explanation why I'm wrong.
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