CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin calls out colleague for downplaying coronavirus to 'help' Trump: 'You used and abused your position'

On Wednesday morning, May 27, the United States was moving closer and closer to a grim milestone: 100,000 deaths from coronavirus, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Anchors Andrew Ross Sorkin and Joe Kernan angrily debated this milestone on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” — with Sorkin accusing Kernan of downplaying a tragedy in order to protect President Donald Trump and Kernan accusing Sorkin of blowing things out of proportion.

Kernan told Sorkin, “You panicked about the market, panicked about COVID, panicked about the ventilators, panicked about the PPE, panicked about ever going out again.”

Frustrated, Sorkin angrily asserted, “100,000 people die, Joe, all you did was try to help your friend, the president. That’s what you did, every single morning on this show. Every single morning on this show, you used and abused your position, Joe.”

Kernan responded, “That’s totally unfair. I’m trying to help investors keep their cool, keep their heads — and as it turned out, that’s what they should have done. That’s what they should have done: they should have kept their heads.” And Sorkin, still angry, explained, “I wasn’t arguing to go sell your stocks, Joseph. I was arguing about people’s lives. People’s lives — that’s the argument. Do the news: I’m begging you to do the news, Joseph.”

Twitter users have been praising Sorkin for calling Kernan out. Former U.S. Senate staffer Howard Forman, @theHowie, tweeted, “Kudos @andrewrsorkin for saying out loud what we know is true. There are too many enablers of POTUS whose active & passive actions have led to the deaths of countless lives. THIS WAS avoidable. We will have many more deaths, still. The #JoeKernan's of the world are complicit.” And @ariella_layton posted, “I’m here for the slap heard across the world. Thank you @andrewrsorkin. @JoeSquawk how did that one case of #coronavirius that President Lysol spoke about back in January turn out? #IncompetenceKills.”