CNN panelist hammers MSNBC hosts mocking voters' border concerns: 'In-kind contribution' to Trump

CNN panelist Doug Heye called out MSNBC for laughing at Virginia voters concerned about the border on Thursday and said the mockery was a "massive in-kind contribution to Donald Trump's campaign."

CNN Host Kasie Hunt asked Heye, a former communications director at the Republican National Committee and GOP strategist, about President Biden's biggest vulnerabilities. She appeared to cite crime and the border, noting Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., sent the national guard to the New York City subway in order to combat a rise in crime and noted Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., had invited the parents of Georgia murder victim Laken Riley to the president's State of the Union address, but they had declined. 

"I mean, these are big policy vulnerabilities for the president," Hunt said. Heye said the two issues he hears about most outside of Washington are Biden's age and the border crisis. 

"It is overwhelmingly of vulnerability for this administration. And I think in Washington, they don’t get it. Outside of Washington, Democrats get it more and more. I was watching MSNBC for a little bit on Super Tuesday and there was a panel, all of the hosts, and they were all sort of laughing. Well, Virginia as a border state with West Virginia. So, of course, they‘d be scared or worried about the border. Hahaha," Heye said. 

CNN panelist Doug Heye called out MSNBC hosts Rachel Maddow and Jen Psaki  on Thursday for laughing at VA voters.  (Screenshot/CNN)

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He said New York Mayor Eric Adams and Hochul gets it, and added, "If Washington, if the liberal intelligencia that informs this White House can laugh this off or think they can, they‘re in for four more years of Donald Trump." 

Hunt pointed to the New York Post, who featured the MSNBC panel mocking Virginia voters in their paper, and Heye said it was a "massive in-kind contribution to Donald Trump's campaign." 

While covering the results of the Super Tuesday primary races, Psaki and Maddow mocked Virginians for listing the border and immigration as their top voting issue. 

"They're voting on race," MSNBC's Joy Reid said, calling out White working-class Republican voters. "They're voting on this idea of an invasion of Brown people over the border."

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Psaki concurred and added, "Look at some of these exit polls. I live in Virginia. Immigration was the number one issue," as Reid laughed.

Maddow added, "Well, Virginia does have a border with West Virginia," as others on the panel laughed.

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow covers the Super Tuesday election results for the network on March 5, 2024. (Screenshot/MSNBC)

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The MSNBC hosts were swiftly criticized on social media over their remarks. 

Joe Walsh, a former Republican congressman who's become a vehement critic of Trump, said it was "pretty damn arrogant."

"MSNBC talking heads laughing AT the American people," Walsh said. "Mocking them. Mocking Americans who are concerned about immigration. Pretty damn arrogant & out of touch. Not a good look, Dems."

Fox News' David Rutz and Jeffrey Clark contributed to this report.