“Trump says and does bigoted and contemptible things. “The problem is with the position itself,” said Angelo Carusone, head of the left-wing watchdog group Media Matters for America, and the one on the receiving end of Lord’s tweeted Nazi salute. They won’t be the most accepted at the garden parties at the Louvre.”įor some, the network will face trouble no matter what given the extremes to which conservatives sometimes go to defend President Trump.Īlso Read: CNN Suspends Pro-Trump Contributor After Old Sexual Misconduct Accusation “It’s people who were attracted to guerilla warfare. “If you’re talking about D-listers, it’s not people who are super-polished,” said another frequent CNN guest. Others suggest that the strongest and most reliably TV-ready right-wing commentators have been snapped up by Fox News, leaving its rival to lesser pundits who may not be as ready for the glare of the spotlight. “It is incredibly sad to watch and I think very self-damaging to a network filled with serious professionals and good people for whom I have the greatest respect.”Īlso Read: CNN's Don Lemon Defends Antifa Despite Violence: 'No Organization Is Perfect' (Video) “One can sit on CNN and use all kinds of racial slurs, not to mention call the President of the United States Hitler or compare him to Stalin and more, and that’s OK,” Lord said. And Ryan Lizza, who was fired from the New Yorker last December after a sexual misconduct accusation, returned to CNN after a roughly six-week suspension by the network. “Sadly, CNN seems to have two standards: one for Trump supporters and an anything-goes standard for liberals or anti-Trumpers,” said Jeffrey Lord, a GOP strategist who was dumped by the network in August 2017 after tweeting the Nazi salute “Sieg heil” in an online spat.ĬNN never announced any disciplinary action against liberal commentator Phil Mudd after he dropped the N-word on air in January during a live appearance with Don Lemon he continues to appear frequently on the network. “There is an extraordinary target on anyone who is pro-Trump back at CNN.”Īlso Read: CNN's Pro-Trump Commentator Jason Miller Exits After Abortion Pill Accusations “People who support Trump, treats them like second-class citizens,” said one insider who has appeared frequently on the channel but asked not to be identified. Some suggest that the network has an antipathy for conservative voices. While liberal stalwarts like Reza Azlan and Kathy Griffin have also been shown the door, Trump defenders have long been an endangered species at CNN. In just under two years, Corey Lewandowski, Scottie Nell Hughes, Jeffrey Lord, Ed Martin and Paris Dennard have also departed the network for reasons ranging from errant tweets to accusations of sexual misconduct. Why does CNN have such a hard time holding on to its right-wing contributors? This weekend, former Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller became the sixth conservative CNN contributor to lose his perch at the network since the 2016 election.