CNN analyst slams Trump surrogate for valorizing 'peaceful' protesters: 'He doesn't feel that way when athletes take a knee'

A CNN political analyst shut down a Trump campaign surrogate who lauded "peaceful" protesters by pitting them against the "mob tactics" of those who demonstrate against the president.

"There's a big difference between peaceful protests, which of course has a hallowed tradition in American history, and mob tactics such as chasing people out of restaurants, violence, which the Left has used to a dramatic degree, particularly with antifa," former Trump campaign aide Steve Cortes said during a panel discussion led by host Anderson Cooper.

Cortes added that people protesting the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court "looked like crazy people" when they "crashed past a police line to bang against the doors."

"That's not peaceful protests," he said.

USA Today columnist Kirsten Powers then pointed out the irony in Cortes' statement.

"It's just interesting to hear Steve talk about how wonderful peaceful protests are," Powers said, "because I don't think he feels that way when football players take a knee, so basically any kind of protest always ends up being a problem."

The Kavanaugh protests were "fundamentally peaceful," the CNN political analyst argued.

"These were women going intoSenatee buildings and trying to talk to senators and some of the senators, like [Alaska Republican] Lisa Murkowski, did sit down and speak to themand others didn't," she added. "Those who didn't did get cornered by the protesters."

Powers noted that there was nothing "particularly frightening" about videos of protesters confronting senators, referencing the now-viral moment in which two sexual assault survivors cornered Sen. Jeff Flake (R-TN) in an elevator about Kavanaugh.

"I'm sure it was uncomfortable to be called out, but I don't think anyone's life was in danger," she said.

It's unlikely, the columnist added, that senators "were getting constant death threats in the manner that right now Christine Blasey Ford is getting."

"She can't go home," Powers said. "She apparently is separated from her children. So when we're talking about real threats against people who are really frightened, I don't think that's what's going on. These senators have securityblocking them off from the women anyway, even from speaking to them."

Watch the on-air confrontation below via CNN: