“The October Surprise is an advent calendar of racism,” Ben Collins, CEO of satire news site The Onion, wrote late Monday evening on Donald Trump has taken successive blows from his own supporters — first a speaker at his rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, followed by a sympathetic commentator on CNN, both making “jokes” at the expense of minorities that could prove crucial to the election outcome.

Read more: How a racist joke about Puerto Rico at a Trump rally could influence the election

During a discussion about the consequences of Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden on the program NewsNightGuest panelist Mehdi Hasan – a British progressive commentator and former MSNBC host – challenged Trump supporters: “If you don’t want to be called Nazis, stop doing it….”

But before he could finish his sentence, fellow panelist Ryan Girdusky, a political consultant who publicly supports Trump, told Hasan: “You’ve been called an anti-Semite more than anyone else at this table.”

“I’m a supporter of the Palestinians, so I’m used to it,” Hasan replied, before Girdusky shot back: “Well, I hope your pager doesn’t go off.”

The apparent reference to a recent attack on suspected Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, involving exploding pagers and radios, prompted immediate response from Hasan and the rest of the panel. “Are you a racist, violent person who incites violence against me?” Hasan asked. “That’s disgusting,” said another panelist.

Girdusky claimed he misheard Hasan. ‘I thought he said Hamas. My apologies.”

After a commercial break, host Abby Phillip apologized to viewers and to Hasan for the “completely unacceptable” comment made during the previous segment and said Girdusky had been dismissed from the panel. “We want discussion, we want people who disagree with each other to talk to each other, but if you cross the line of a complete lack of civility, that’s not going to happen here on this show,” she said. “We can have conversations about what’s happening in this country without resorting to the lowest of the low types of discourse.”

Hasan was also absent from the next segment, although Phillip said in a post on X after the show that he had not been asked to leave. Phillip also shared a statement from CNN, which said: “There is no room for racism or bigotry at CNN… Ryan Girdusky will no longer be welcome on our network.”

In a post on Apparently you can’t get on CNN if you make a joke. I’m glad America sees what CNN stands for.”

As clips of the incident went viral on social media, campaign officials for Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris quickly seized the moment to link Girdusky to Republican vice presidential candidate Ohio Senator J.D. Vance.

Ian Sams, Harris’ spokesperson, shared a clip to Girdusky explained his relationship with Vance in the interview. “In 2020, he reached out to me on Twitter and we built a friendship,” Girdusky said. “When Senator Rob Portman announced his retirement, I called him and said, ‘If you’re in, I want to be on the team.’” Girdusky became an advisor to Vance’s 2022 Senate race super PAC, Protect Ohio Values.

James Singer, a rapid response adviser for the Harris campaign, also shared photos to Politico. The organization, for which Girdusky is listed as an adviser and Vance as a former board member, was an early partner of the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation in helping create Project 2025, the right-wing presidential transition blueprint that Trump and Vance developed. despite many connections, tried to distance itself because of its controversial and extreme agenda.