CNN’s Abby Phillip Blasts Trump Over ‘Promises Of Great Revenge’ and ‘Threat’ Against Courts In Blistering Commentary

CNN anchor Abby Phillip tore into former President Donald Trump over his “biblical-sounding promises of great revenge” and what she interpreted as a “threat to the courts that will decide” his fate.

Trump has made “retribution” a central theme of his reelection, and in an interview with Dr. Phil McGraw said “revenge does take time, I will say that. And sometimes revenge can be justified, Phil. I have to be honest. Sometimes it can.”

On Thursday night’s edition of CNN NewsNight, Phillip opened her show with a blistering commentary on Trump’s thirst for revenge, and how his supporters deal with it:

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN HOST: Donald Trump’s Pulp Fiction, that’s tonight on NewsNight.

Good evening. I’m Abby Phillip in New York.

Tonight, Donald Trump channels Tarantino. It’s almost like he sees himself as Ezekiel, beset on all sides by the tyranny of evil men. But here’s the thing about those enemies. They’re about as real as the Samuel L. Jackson character, Jules Winfield, meaning not at all.

On the other hand, these biblical-sounding promises of great revenge against their invisible enemies, well, there’s a lot to suggest that they could be taken seriously. Trump, just hours ago, ranted about his trial where 12 jurors made him a convicted felon. He called it rigged. And then he made what you can only interpret as a threat to the courts that will decide the validity of his conviction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have to straighten out what’s going on in these courts. We got a rigged deal going, this whole country, and we’ve got to do it, and those appellate courts have to step up and straighten things out, or we’re not going to have a country any longer.

(END VIDEO CLIP) PHILLIP: Now, Trump and his disciples, they all have the same complaint, basically, that the system is somehow stacked against them, and that they all have the same cure for that, tearing down the system all together.

Take Steve Bannon, for example, the former Trump fixer who was just ordered to report to jail.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE BANNON, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF STRATEGIST: They’re not going to shut up Trump. They’re not going to shut up Navarro. They’re not going to shut up Bannon. And they’re certainly not going to shut up MAGA.

There’s nothing that can shut me up and nothing that will shut me up. There’s not a prison built or a jail built that will ever shut me up. All victory to MAGA.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: In an almost too wild to be true twist of irony, no one is trying to shut Bannon up. He was actually sent to jail for contempt of Congress because he was the one who refused to talk by order of a legally authorized congressional subpoena.

So, why might Trump and his MAGA allies do this? Well, perhaps money.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Right after the announcement of this, more campaign funds were given to this campaign than any campaign they think in history, $400 million, 400.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: We should note here, not even his own campaign is making that particular claim. But what’s even stranger about this is that Trump’s allies are weirdly insisting that the revenge plot isn’t happening at all.

Now, you might remember Senator Tim Scott tried to tell me exactly that on this show exactly one week ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-SC): I’m simply saying that President Trump has said it himself. The best revenge is success.

PHILLIP: Actually, Senator, I have to correct you on that because he’s explicitly said —

SCOTT: I went to him in the room — no, you can’t —

PHILLIP: I’m looking at the notes right here. He has explicitly said that they did it — he said, okay, Senator, he said it publicly. They did it to me, so we have to do it to them.

SCOTT: I’m happy to debate.

PHILLIP: He said they did it to me, so they have to do it to them. Do you support that?

SCOTT: Abby, I know you are — this is why the ratings on CNN are so low. The bottom line is simply this. Without question, President Trump has looked me in my eyes in a room full of other folks and said, you know what, the best revenge is success.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: Okay. So, you and the senator can read the former president’s promises yourself. He promised to prosecute his perceived enemies in plain English, like this post that he made just hours ago on Truth Social. It’s pretty short. “Indict the unselected J6 committee.”

Watch above via CNN NewsNight.

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