CNN anchor Abby Phillip admitted being at a loss for words Wednesday during an on-air discussion over the implications of President Donald Trump repeatedly confusing Iceland and Greenland.
Trump made the eyebrow-raising gaffe four times during a 72-minute speech Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. That evening, Phillip led a panel discussion about the president’s headline-making remarks on “CNN NewsNight,” where she found herself engaged in a heated debate with author and journalist Batya Ungar-Sargon, who hosts the NewsNation talk show, “Batya.”
Ungar-Sargon, an outspoken supporter of Trump, acknowledged the mistakes in the president’s speech but suggested his executive actions on foreign policy were worthy of praise.
“He messed up. He called it Iceland,” she said. “I’ve never once heard him say the word ‘Azerbaijan’ correctly, but that doesn’t mean that he did not bring peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Like, the fact that he cannot be bothered to pronounce it correctly doesn’t mean that the record isn’t there.”
Though others on the panel began to react to Ungar-Sargon’s remarks with laughter, she continued: “It doesn’t mean that he didn’t cut our deficit by 20% in one year. It doesn’t mean that he didn’t actually bring $18 trillion committed.”
