On Monday's Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN, after New York magazine's Andrew Sullivan slammed Donald Trump's proposal for a temporary ban on Muslim immigrants, host Anderson Cooper grasped at straws to suggest an equivalence with banning Jews because "Jewish extremists" have "committed acts of terrorism against Israeli leaders" as he pushed back against conservative CNN commentator Kayleigh McEnany's support for Trump's plan.
After McEnany argued that such a temporary Muslim ban is justified because of terrorist attacks like those in San Bernardino, California, and Paris, Cooper posed: "So Andrew's argument, if a candidate was saying, 'Don't allow Jewish people in the country,' would that be acceptable?"
After McEnany responded, "Well, there's not a problem -- we don't have a problem with Jewish people right now. We have a problem with radical Islam," the CNN host, presumably referring to the 1995 assassination of then-Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, made a weak counter-argument as he followed up: "Well, there are extremist Jews who've committed acts of terrorism against Israeli leaders."
After McEnany replied that "They're not living in four countries and targeting the United States to kill Americans," Sullivan went over the top by claiming such a plan by Trump is "an attack upon the United States of America that your candidate is doing." Sullivan:
But you're not arguing to bar these ISIS terrorists. You're arguing that anybody who is a Muslim could not be allowed in the United States. That is an abolition of America. This place was designed and created so people could have freedom of religion and come here and practice as they want. This is an attack upon the United States of America that your candidate is doing.
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Monday, May 2, Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN:
8:15 p.m. ET
KAYLEIGH McENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: First of all, I disagree with this cryptic vision you have of Donald Trump. The fact is, a lot of Americans sit here and they look at, you know, 10 people, 11 people who died in San Bernardino, and they're very scared. They look at a President who refuses to use the word "radical Islam." He refuses to call this what it is. Likewise, we look at this unbridled immigration policy, and we look to Europe, and we see 400 ISIS fighters who got into Europe and killed 153 Parisians.
The fact is, this is driven by a radical ideology within a faith. It's not everyone, but it certainly is some of them, and Americans are very scared. And, likewise, they're scared on the economic front. Donald Trump has put forth a positive vision about how to make this country-ANDERSON COOPER: So Andrew's argument, if a candidate was saying, "Don't allow Jewish people in the country," would that be acceptable?
McENANY: Well, there's not a problem -- we don't have a problem with Jewish people right now. We have a problem with radical Islam.
COOPER: Well, there are extremist Jews who've committed acts of terrorism against Israeli leaders.
McENANY: They're not living in four countries and targeting the United States to kill Americans.
ANDREW SULLIVAN, NEW YORK MAGAZINE: But you're not arguing to bar these ISIS terrorists. You're arguing that anybody who is a Muslim could not be allowed in the United States. That is an abolition of America. This place was designed and created so people could have freedom of religion and come here and practice as they want. This is an attack upon the United States of America that your candidate is doing.
