Piers Morgan clashed with an anti-Trump campaigner during a heated exchange on Good Morning Britain, in which he was dubbed an “idiot” after he said the communist guest was “pro-Obama”.
The presenter faced off against protester Ash Sarkar, a campaigner for the Stop Trump Coalition who was on the programme to discuss the planned rally against US president Donald Trump when he visits the UK on Friday.
She also criticised Morgan’s interview with Mr Trump earlier this year during the fiery debate, which saw the pair talking loudly over each other throughout.
Sarkar said the idea of Mr Trump holding the hand of Theresa May is an “utter embarrassment”, following his policy on the “unconscionable” border separations.
In an extremely fiery debate, we discuss the thousands of people who are expected to protest against President Trump… @piersmorgan @susannareid100 pic.twitter.com/KXS1UiW9fg
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) July 12, 2018
Morgan asked: “Did you find Obama deporting three million people unconscionable?”
Sarkar replied that she did, and Morgan asked why she did not march against former president Barack Obama during one of his visits to the UK, adding that “it’s double standards”.
He added: “If you find them both unconscionable and it’s the same issue, you have to march twice don’t you?”
Sarkar said: “Piers, I’d actually encourage you to maybe check out some of the other work I’ve done where I’ve been intensely critical…”
Morgan interrupted, telling her to “go and check out some basic facts about your hero Obama”, to which she retorted: “He’s not my hero, I’m a communist you idiot.”
“Let’s get it in perspective – there were (no marches) against Obama, there were none against Vladimir Putin,” Morgan said.
His co-host Susanna Reid asked him: “Why didn’t you go and protest Obama then, if you’re so keen to protest?”
Sarkar, who became increasingly impatient throughout the interview, said that Morgan was trying to “make up for your incompetence as a journalist”, adding: “You didn’t hold Trump adequately to account when you interviewed him.”
Morgan fired back: “Yes I did, I held Trump to account on a number of issues.”
Sarkar said that Morgan was “embarrassing”, and added: “What you’ve done is straw manned your guests, put words in my mouth and deflected from the actual argument at hand.
“It may be embarrassing to you, Ash, but what I try and do is be fair about Trump,” Morgan replied.
“What you do is be relentlessly anti-Trump and pro somebody like Obama – it doesn’t wash.”
Sarkar responded: “I’m not pro-Obama, I’m a critic of Obama, I’m a critic of the Democratic party because I’m literally a communist!”
Their heated debate spilled over following the live broadcast and on to Twitter.
Yeah, I couldn’t remember the figure for how many were deported under Obama. But that’s still not half as embarrassing as @piersmorgan forgetting that he’s actually meant to be a journalist.
— Ash Sarkar (@AyoCaesar) July 12, 2018
It wasn’t that you couldn’t remember, it’s that you didn’t have a clue. Which may explain why you feel so compelled to protest against Trump over immigration but not Obama who deported 3 million people. https://t.co/VGA9uGvPMS
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) July 12, 2018
She tweeted: “Yeah, I couldn’t remember the figure for how many were deported under Obama. But that’s still not half as embarrassing as @piersmorgan forgetting that he’s actually meant to be a journalist.”
Morgan tweeted back: “It wasn’t that you couldn’t remember, it’s that you didn’t have a clue. Which may explain why you feel so compelled to protest against Trump over immigration but not Obama who deported 3 million people.”