On Wednesday night, The Federalist’s Brianna Lyman didn’t just show up to CNN’s NewsNight — she brought the receipts, the composure, and a pointed reminder that language has consequences. Going head-to-head with Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman, Lyman took apart a narrative that’s grown all too familiar: one side gets to call its opponents fascists, Nazis, and threats to democracy, while the other is expected to stay silent — or be labeled complicit.
At the center of the debate was the recent deployment of the National Guard to ICE facilities in Portland and Chicago after violent riots targeting federal property. While Goldman painted the move as part of a dangerous authoritarian slide under Trump, Lyman and fellow panelist Phil Williams of Just Right called out the hypocrisy — and didn’t hold back.
“You’re not going to sit here and fact-check us when you spread the Russia collusion hoax, come on!” Lyman snapped, calling out Goldman’s selective memory. When Goldman fired back that it was actually host Abby Phillip doing the fact-checking, the tension thickened.
But it was when Goldman flatly called Donald Trump a “fascist” that Lyman dropped the gloves. “That is assassination prep language,” she shot back, warning of the real-world consequences when politicians and pundits casually invoke the darkest chapters of 20th-century history.
It wasn’t a rhetorical flourish. It was a reality check.
Goldman attempted to deflect by referencing the brutal murders of Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband — a case with political undertones still unfolding — but Lyman pounced again. The accused killer reportedly believed he was acting in support of Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, a chilling detail that undercuts the narrative that all political violence flows from one direction.
Lyman’s most sobering moment came when she outlined how language like “fascist” and “Nazi” doesn’t just vilify — it dehumanizes. “When people hear the word fascist, Nazi, Hitler,” she said, “you rightfully think of people in the 1940s who had to be defeated by any means necessary.” The implication? Labeling political opponents this way doesn’t just win arguments — it rationalizes violence.
This was no shouting match for ratings. It was an unflinching conversation about the boiling political rhetoric that too often explodes into real-life consequences. And while CNN’s Phillip tried to argue for moral equivalence — playing a clip of Trump labeling Kamala Harris a Marxist — Lyman wasn’t buying the comparison.
“We don’t have a both sides problem,” Lyman said, pointing to the lack of coverage around Virginia attorney general candidate Jay Jones — who texted about putting “two bullets” in the head of a Republican colleague and fantasized about that colleague watching his children die. “You are implicitly justifying resistance by any means necessary,” she concluded.
It’s a point that continues to elude much of mainstream media: in a climate where political violence is no longer theoretical, the words used by elected officials and media figures carry enormous weight. To Lyman, calling someone a fascist isn’t just inflammatory — it’s dangerous.
And on that CNN panel, she made sure everyone heard it.
