A heated debate broke out on CNN Wednesday night as two political experts clashed over President Donald Trump’s controversial tariffs. The argument quickly grew tense when Ana Navarro, a political analyst for CNN, refused to back down from Shermichael Singleton, a Republican strategist.
Singleton, who supported Trump’s new tariffs on China and the European Union, was the only one on the panel defending the policy. He argued that free trade had hurt American cities and towns, which led him to back Trump’s tough stance on trade.
“I think the president is right in his critique that free trade has ravaged towns and cities across this country,” Singleton said, despite host Abby Phillip trying to interject.
“Let me finish,” Singleton insisted as he pushed his point further, suggesting the Trump administration had a solid plan that could help American workers.
Navarro, however, wasn’t convinced. She pointed out that Trump’s tariff announcement came right after the Wisconsin Supreme Court race and suggested it was all part of the political theater.
“We don’t have April Fool’s Day anymore,” Navarro said. “All the entire year has been nothing but a joke, a bad one.” She also criticized Trump’s administration, accusing officials like Secretary of State Marco Rubio of failing to put limits on Trump’s policies.
That’s when Singleton fired back, challenging Navarro’s views by asking if Republicans from the past might have been wrong on free trade.
“No,” Navarro quickly replied. “It’s possible they’ve lost their cojones and are just bowing to Trump.” Singleton continued defending free trade, saying the original argument for it had flaws.
As the argument escalated, Navarro made it clear that she believed many Republicans were too afraid to speak out against Trump. “There are a bunch of coward pusillanimous people around Trump,” she said, adding that most Republicans had spent their careers supporting free trade, which she felt benefited working Americans.
“I could watch that all day, so I wasn’t going to interrupt,” said CNN commentator Ashley Allison, commenting on the fiery exchange between the two.
Watch the exchange below from CNN:
