CNN Contributor: You Can Shoot My Dog And If I Think You Can Beat Trump I'm For You

CNN contributor and Democratic strategist Paul Begala told CNN's Chris Cuomo on Monday night that he wants to beat President Donald Trump in 2020 so badly that he would vote for a Democrat who shot his dog if that Democrat could beat Trump.

"I am a lifelong Democrat, and I have no candidate yet in this field," Begala said. "First time in my life, I’ve not had a candidate that I’ve preferred in the primaries. I’m going to watch and see how they develop."

"This is what I’m looking for: I’m a JFK Democrat," Begala continued. "I will pay any price, bear any burden, support any friend, oppose any foe to ensure the defeat of Donald J. Trump. You could be for Medicare-For-All or not, you could shoot my dog and if I think you can beat Trump, I'm going to be for you."

"Well, that’s very mainstream of you," Cuomo responded. "So Ana, look, we all know how you feel about this president. However, you represent a strain of compassionate conservatives that Joe Biden is hoping will listen to his message. Does he have a chance of that?"

CNN contributor and self-styled "anti-Trump Republican" Ana Navarro chimed in, saying: "I think people like me, disenfranchised Republicans, people who do not want to vote for Trump, in my case, who will not vote for Trump, want to have somebody that they can vote for enthusiastically and without feeling like they are betraying our ideology, our principles and our convictions. Joe Biden for me is such a person. Look, I’m biased. I’ve known him for 20 years. I knew him as a senator. I knew him as the vice president, as a candidate the first time, I knew him as a regular citizen and now as a candidate."

 

"There are some people in the Democratic field who are, I think, rather scary to right-leaning independents, centrists, and disenfranchised Republicans, anti-Trump Republicans, like me," Navarro continued. "You start talking about 70% tax rates? That scares us. Look, the idea of a Joe Biden, who has the experience, who is calling on better angels, who is talking about unity — but I, like Paul, there’s no way I will vote for Trump, even if he shoots Paul’s dog, because he better not shoot mine."

"Enough with the shooting of the dogs!" Cuomo said to the two contributors. "It’s the only thing all Americans care about."

 

WATCH:

Ryan Saavedra

✔@RealSaavedra

CNN's Paul Begala on the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates: "You can shoot my dog and if I think you can beat Trump imma be for you"

7:18 AM - Apr 30, 2019

• 569
• 854 people are talking about this

Twitter Ads info and privacy

CNN's most recent power ranking for the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates listed the following 10 candidates in order 1-10: Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, Beto O'Rourke, Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar, Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Julian Castro.

CNN wrote the following about Sanders: "The senator from Vermont has the most things going for him right now of anyone in the field. Concerns about electability have already begun to creep in, but Sanders seems committed to showing doubters that he has an eye on the general election, too. His answer on whether Congress should impeach Trump is a sure sign he's thinking beyond the primary."