A Republican strategist's comments were sent into the abyss Wednesday on CNN as producers ended a segment while he was trying to respond to a Democratic strategist's claim.

David Urban, a Republican political operative, joined former Obama speechwriter David Axelrod on CNN's "AC360" on Wednesday, where the group discussed the upcoming November midterm elections. Host Anderson Cooper shared recent polling data showing that President Donald Trump's job approval has continued to sink since the war in Iran began in late February, and asked the two analysts for their reactions.

Axelrod argued that the polling showed Republicans will have to "thwart history" in November to grow their majority in Congress. He noted that there have been only two elections since the 1940s in which the incumbent party gained seats in Congress during the midterms.

He argued that there is "no indication" that the Republicans will be able to pull off that feat this time around.

Urban began arguing that "Trump is a president that defies gravity..." as CNN cut his microphone and ended the segment, prompting Cooper to laugh.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas's recent speech at the University of Texas at Austin about the ties between progressivism and vicious fascist leaders like Adolf Hitler alarmed an analyst on a new podcast episode on Wednesday.

Sidney Blumenthal and Sean Wilentz, co-hosts of "The Court of History," argued in a new episode that Thomas's claim that all the ills of modern society can be traced back to the original Progressive era was not an accurate reading of American history. Wilentz was alarmed by the speech because it seemed to further claims that have been circulating on conspiratorial parts of the internet for several years.

"I'd be laughing at it if it wasn't so frightening," Wilentz said. "It's frightening the extent to which it shows me the triumph of ideas that have been around for a long time and are truly crackpot. This is not history. It's a crackpot right-wing musing coming out of a conspiratorial group ... It's very Tea Party-ish."

"But, the shocking thing is that he's getting praised all over the place by the right wing," he added. "This stuff is on Fox [News], all over the right-wing media. They're going in an echo chamber about how this is the real way to think about America."

Blumenthal argued that Thomas's speech seemed to go beyond Republicans' attacks on the administrative state. Instead, he seemed to be promoting a theory with roots in an antisemitic work that blamed Jewish people for the creation of the Federal Reserve system.

"We can laugh at it all we want because it's so stupid, but by the same token, there they are," Wilentz said. "They have a great deal of power, and these are the people who are certainly in charge of the Republican party these days, and it adds a dimension to what Trump is about that is really much more frightening."

Former Rep. George Santos suggested on social media Wednesday that he would run for Congress again if lawmakers did not remove Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN).

Santos was expelled from Congress in late 2023 after a federal fraud indictment. He was originally sentenced to 87 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to identity theft and wire fraud in August 2024, beginning his sentence in April 2025.

He was released less than three months into his sentence at President Donald Trump's behest.

Online critics quickly mocked Santos's comeback plans with sarcasm and criticism.

Via X, musician Brian Rosenworcel sarcastically suggested Santos run against Omar in Minnesota, prompting Santos to fire back, calling him an "idiot" and clarifying his plan involved running elsewhere.

Additional critics exchanged hostile responses with Santos on social media.

Santos claimed his life was "an open book" and argued Americans would prefer candidates honest about their past over those with secrets.

Watch the video below.