Whenever Republican strategist and #NeverTrump conservative Rick Wilson pops up on cable news, you can be fairly certain that you’ll hear some witty one-liners and a whole lot of anti-Trump vitriol — in many ways he is a male version of Ana Navarro — and if he’s paired off with a Trump defender, things will generally get heated, leading to all kinds of fireworks.

Well, it looks like the stars aligned last night, as Wilson found himself on CNN debating syndicated talk radio host John Fredericks on the subject of Trump taking aim at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. And, yes, it was off the rails.

Early on, both Fredericks — apparently a fervent Trump supporter — and Wilson got a chance to make their points, with Fredericks saying McConnell lives in an “alternative” Washington universe and Wilson claiming Trump doesn’t have “any Republican values.” But after Wilson set out his case against Trump, Fredericks fired a shot across his bow, setting the stage for the rest of the combative segment.

“You just don’t get what’s happening out there in America,” Frederick exclaimed. “Because you’re one of those never Trumper people who don’t understand the movement and the people behind him.”

Wilson countered that Trump only won ‘Because he was a celebrity” and that “there is no revolution,” adding that Trump is a “guy who is mentally unstable.”

And so it went for the next few minutes. Fredericks would essentially label Wilson as an out-of-touch urban elitist while the Daily Beast columnist would respond by highlighting how Trump didn’t understand conservatism and was unable to actually lead a party.

At the end of the whole thing, after Wilson knocked Fredericks for seemingly wanting Trump to have “sovereign power” over Congress, the radio host complained that this had become an “inane conversation.”

“John, you are a master of inane arguments, trust me,” Wilson retorted. “I think you are absolutely correct.”

As anchor Don Lemon sent it to break, Fredericks got in one last parting shot, telling Wilson: “We won, you lost!”

Watch the whole exchange above, via CNN.

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Justin Baragona on Twitter: @justinbaragona

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