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“Ma’am, it’s all over. It’s not just the President,” Burchett fired back. “The guy was shot at. He was shot at once and he was almost assassinated twice. Look back at my friend Steve Scalise when he was shot. The guy had what was called, he had a Republican hunting list, and it took us five years, ma’am—five years to get that changed by the FBI.”
Burchett Shifts the Spotlight
Bolduan kept pushing the idea that leadership starts with the President. She insisted Trump had a duty to “bring the temperature down.”
Burchett wasn’t having it.
“Well, what do you all do with it? You keep putting it out,” he snapped. “If you all truly wanted this to change in the media at CNN and other places, your editorial board would say, ‘We’re not going to—we are not going to put this stuff out.’ But yet you continue to put it out and that continues to stir the base, ma’am.”
That was the moment Bolduan lost control of the interview.
CNN Gets Defensive
Visibly rattled, Bolduan tried to claim her show was lowering the rhetoric.
“No, no, no,” she protested. “I’m creating a conversation, and I take pride in the fact that we do bring the temperature down on this program… That’s not trying to stir—that’s trying to have conversation.”
But Burchett wasn’t done.
“Well, ma’am, I’m not attacking you,” he said. “I’m just letting you know that you all need to look within at CNN if you want to continue down this path, because clearly your ratings show that, and the conservative movement is showing that they’re not watching you because of that.”
Ouch. Everyone knows CNN’s ratings have been sinking for years, and hearing it thrown back in their face on live TV was brutal.
“If you all truly had some objective reporting instead of constantly attacking conservatives and Republicans, then there would be a change, I think,” he continued. “But there’s not going to be a change. You all don’t want to change down deep.”
Why This Moment Matters
Bolduan ended the interview by scolding Burchett for “broad brush statements.” But the damage was done.
Instead of walking away with another clip of a Republican blaming Trump, CNN ended up on the defensive — accused of fanning the flames of division while pretending to be neutral.
Burchett’s approach marked a sharp break from the usual GOP strategy of playing defense. Rather than explain or apologize, he went on offense and forced CNN to answer for its own record.
He reminded viewers that Trump himself has survived two assassination attempts, that Rep. Steve Scalise was nearly killed by a leftist gunman with a “Republican hunting list,” and that the media never seems to connect those dots.
The lesson is clear: the media loves to lecture conservatives about “tone” while refusing to look in the mirror. Burchett showed that Republicans don’t have to take the bait.
And when they fight back, the so-called “mainstream” outlets crumble under the weight of their own hypocrisy.
