February 12, 2025

THIS IS CNN: Meltdown: CNN Host Calls Sununu (!) a ‘D*ck’ In DOGE Discussion With…

Imagine getting so flummoxed by a Republican as moderate and non-MAGA as Chris Sununu on a panel discussing reductions in government spending. That sounds like an ancient episode of a Frontline debate on a Saturday morning. Pipes should be puffing, tweed jackets donned, perhaps even with the elbow patches, horn-rimmed glasses firmly affixed in front of a two-camera set with black-and-white broadcasting.

Instead … this is CNN, and usually milquetoast anchor Anderson Cooper (via Twitchy):

COOPER: Some of the details, like millions for hotels, it’s actually not…

SUNUNU: You mean the FEMA money for migrants? That’s OK now?

COOPER: I’m not saying it’s OK, don’t put words in my mouth. Don’t be a d*ck.

Emphasis mine. Also, let’s emphasize that the other panel member in this discussion is Jeffrey Toobin, who’s best known for literally whipping it out during a business meeting on Zoom. If Cooper wanted to discuss male genitalia, the comment should have been directed at his colleague Toobin, who for some reason CNN still employs. You just can’t make this up.

Cooper later apologized, but that hardly matters. Why would a broadcast professional drop that into a policy debate?

In 2017, Brooke Baldwin got the vapors over Clay Travis joking that he believes in “the First Amendment and boobs,” even as Don Lemon told Kathy Griffin on a CNN New Year’s Eve broadcast: “Nice rack.” During the past two weeks, its distaff newsreaders are tut-tutting a teenage DOGE wonk whose handle is “Big Balls” and Elon Musk himself temporarily changing his Twitter handle to “Harry Bolz,” while Anderson Cooper is deploying locker room talk with Chris Sununu (with Toobin on-camera as well). CNN is once again trying to have it both ways when it comes to maintaining a veneer of civility, and not surprisingly, failing badly.

Posted at 12:00 pm by Ed Driscoll