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In a disgusting exchange on CNN NewsNight With Abby Phillip, disgraced former PBS host Tavis Smiley attributed JD Vance’s take on conservative men having more testosterone to “mommy issues”, as some in the panel laughed. It is interesting to see what passes for acceptable standards over at the former “world leader in news.”

Watch as Smiley twice suggests that Vance might have “mommy issues”:

TAVIS SMILEY: It’s a bunch of silliness but to your point, Abby, your comment a moment ago that got me when you say he’s coming after the men, too. I think JD Vance has mommy issues. And it’s been fascinating for me to watch the way this has played out on the campaign trail. And because of those issues, he has subjected women across this country to all his bad ideas and all his bad policy. Maya Angelou once told me that processing pain without perpetuating pain is rough business.So if you’ve got mommy issues and you make everybody else in the country subject to that, that’s a real problem. But to your point, now he’s coming after the men.I remember an episode of This American Life  years ago, where the staff all took testosterone tests. And when the results of that came in, the male host of that show, Ira, had the highest testosterone. And the executive producer of that show, a woman, had the highest level of testosterone, which suggests to me that the big dogs just rule. Male or female. The big dogs rule.

(CROSSTALK)

ABBY PHILLIP:  This conversation- I have learned a lot of interesting things. 

Earlier this week, CNN banned (now former) panelist Ryan Girdursky over the infamous “beeper joke.” As our own Curtis Houck notes:

On Monday, CNN NewsNight with far-left pundit Abby Phillip (who pretends to be a journalist) descended into chaos when our friend and conservative panelist Ryan Girdusky quipped to former Al Jazerra and MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan that “I hope your beeper doesn’t go off,” in reference to the exploding beepers across Lebanon targeting members of Hezbollah.

Following an explosion of hurt feelings and pearl-clutching by Phillip, Hasan, and far-left commentator Ashley Allison, Phillip threw to a commercial break and, after returning, announced Girdusky was kicked off the panel for having “crossed” “a line” that was “not acceptable to me” in terms of fostering “civility.” CNN subsequently announced Girdusky was banned from the network.

It is interesting to see what fosters civility and what does not, in the mind of Abby Phillip.

The underlying conversation was about testosterone findings in younger men, as presented by JD Vance on The Joe Rogan Exoerience. The panel really had no cogent response to what was being presented. Ana Navarro started bleating about LeBron James and other celebrity endorsements. Georgia Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan didn’t make any sense of it, either.

And at that point, Smiley comes on and begins talking about Vance’s alleged “mommy issues”. One wonders whether Smiley (or Navarro, who cackled with smug self-satisfaction) is aware of Vance’s story, and his trials and tribulations living with a mother with substance abuse issues. 

Vance wasn’t there to protest or defend himself, of course. Neither was Vance’s mom, who rehabilitated herself and has been drug-free for quite some time. Smiley would repeat the slur again at the end of his take.

All in all, a shameful episode that begs the question:

Is mocking drug addiction within CNN’s standards?

Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned segment on CNN NewsNight With Abby Phillip, as aired on CNN on October 31st, 2024

ABBY PHILLIP: On the final week of the campaign, it’s the vice presidential nominee’s job to stay out of the way. Don’t do anything to draw attention to yourself and away from the candidate at the top of the ballot. JD Vance, apparently, missed that memo.

JD VANCE: Well- have you seen all these studies that basically connect testosterone levels and young men with conservative politics?

JOE ROGAN: Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah.

VANCE: So maybe that’s what’s going on. 

ROGAN: Well, it’s- there’s a certain amount…

VANCE: Maybe that’s why the Democrats want us all to be, you know, poor health and overweight is because…

ROGAN: Because they are.

VANCE: …that means they’re gonna be- No. it means we’re going to be more liberal, right? 

ROGAN: Right.

VANCE: If, you, if you make people less healthy, they apparently become more politically liberal. That’s an interesting observation.

ANA NAVARRO: You know, what’s interesting to talk about. 

PHILLIP: He’s coming after the men, too.

NAVARRO: To talk about- to talk about Democrats being in poor health and overweight when your candidate is Donald Trump. But anyways, I don’t know what to tell you about this. I mean, Lebron James is not low T, Arnold Schwarzenegger is not low T.

COLEMAN HUGHES: If I may… 

NAVARRO: David Bautista could, you know, wring his neck with two fingers. 

COLEMAN HUGHES: So I actually looked up the studies that he is talking about and they are very interesting. They don’t exactly say what he is saying, they say. 

PHILLIP: Shocking!

HUGHES: So for example, one imagined. So once they found that giving men Strauss of testosterone made them more selfish in games of reciprocity. Another one found that men with bigger muscles became more anti-redistribution of wealth, which is a conservative. And then one covered in the Atlantic found interestingly, that bigger muscles made rich men more right-wing. But poor men more left-wing. So there is something to the impact of hormone…

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIP: You know what? That is that really interesting.

GEOFF DUNCAN: For being so smart, JD Vance says some of the stupidest disconnected stuff I’ve heard on the campaign trail. I got to imagine this might be a little bit funny, but not really. There’s a lot of folks on Donald Trump’s team that shakes their head and it’s like what in the world.

PHILLIP: Why is this even coming up, actually.

TAVIS SMILEY: It’s a bunch of silliness but to your point, Abby, your comment a moment ago that got me when you say he’s coming after the men, too. I think JD Vance has mommy issues. And it’s been fascinating for me to watch the way this has played out on the campaign trail. And because of those issues, he has subjected women across this country to all his bad ideas and all his bad policy. Maya Angelou once told me that processing pain without perpetuating pain is rough business.So if you’ve got mommy issues and you make everybody else in the country subject to that, that’s a real problem. But to your point, now he’s coming after the men.I remember an episode of This American Life  years ago, where the staff all took testosterone tests. And when the results of that came in, the male host of that show, Ira, had the highest testosterone. And the executive producer of that show, a woman, had the highest level of testosterone, which suggests to me that the big dogs just rule. Male or female. The big dogs.

(CROSSTALK)

ABBY PHILLIP:  This conversation- I have learned a lot of interesting things.  

NAVARRO: All I can tell you is that you’ve got Arnold Schwarzenegger, David Bautista, Samuel L. Jackson, I say- I could put a bumper sticker that says, “my supporters have more testosterone than yours”.

PHILLIP: Really quick.

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON: Coleman suggested the data varies, right? But there is some interesting data that suggests more younger men are slowly leaving the Democratic Party, and Tavis and I have actually talked about this on his program. And they appear to be, ideologically speaking, moving more to the right.