Antisemitism comment jolts CNN's Harry Enten into angry eruption
A comment by Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Solomon Jones as he battled with conservative Scott Jennings ended up angering CNN's normally unflappable Harry Enten on Saturday morning.
During a discussion on CNN's "Table for Five" over the Donald Trump administration's use of antisemitism as a pretext to continue his assault on higher education, Jones and Jennings went back and forth on the president's plans to punish California for ignoring his executive orders.
That led Jones to comment, "How do you, as the president, target an entire state because you disagree with two things that happened there. That makes no sense to me, and I don't think it should make sense to any of us."
"Because antisemitism should not be condoned," Jennings replied.
"Why is antisemitism the only prejudice that matters? Why does it feel like that?" Jones shot back.
That was when Enten entered the fray.
After some overtalk, he exclaimed, "I got to tell you, you know, I'm a Jewish-American, I've been so my entire life. I'm not exactly the most religious guy in the world but I will tell you, as a Jewish-American, I have been so sick of every single time that there's been hate against Jewish folks that all of a sudden, well, the hate against other minorities is just as bad, and we should elevate that as well."
"I'm not saying that we shouldn't talk about it, but sometimes it is okay just to talk about antisemitism," he added.
"It is okay to talk about it, but it's not okay to target an entire state and say that the only thing that we're targeting you for is antisemitism and what happened with a transgender athlete," Jones explained. "I think that there are other forms of prejudice that matter. I think that there are other forms of racism that matter."
"Certainly," Enten agreed.
"I think that there are other things that matter, and it feels like everything is kind of centered on –– in fact, the trump administration feels like they're weaponizing antisemitism in a way against those who disagree with it," the columnist finished.
"I'll just finish quickly," Enten replied. "I would just say, I just think it is nice that we're really actually focusing on antisemitism for a change in this country and talking about that. We do have a real issue and that there is real Jewish hate on the rise, and we all need to address it."
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