CNN’s Avlon: Trump’s ‘built a big beautiful metaphor, that’s all the wall was’

A CNN analyst on Thursday joked President Trump actually promised a “big beautiful metaphor” rather than a “big beautiful wall” to his supporters, amid shifting debate on the border wall that was one of Trump’s campaign promises.

John Avlon, also editor-in-chief at The Daily Beast, was mocking Kellyanne Conway at the time, in a panel discussion with Chris Cuomo on CNN.

Conway told Cuomo in a heated interview the previous night that Trump “discovered” a wall isn’t needed across the entire southern border of the United States, because rivers, mountains and other terrain aren’t “conducive to building an actual physical structure in some places.”

“The president discovered that part of it will be the physical wall, part of it is better technology, part of it is also fencing,” the president’s senior adviser said Wednesday night.

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“There are rivers involved, I’m told, mountains, terrain that isn’t conducive to building an actual physical structure in some places,” she added.

A Thursday panel on CNN’s “New Day” discussed Conway’s statement with Avlon and former “Meet the Press” moderator David Gregory.

“The wall itself is a ridiculous concept,” Gregory told Cuomo.

“If the wall ends up being something different, that’s ultimately a good thing, so that we don’t have big barriers on our southern border,” he added, also noting that current negotiations between the GOP and Democratic leaders could result in long-sought comprehensive immigration reform.

Gregory joined CNN from NBC in 2016 after departing “Meet the Press” amid low ratings in 2014 and being replaced by Chuck Todd.

“So he’s built a big beautiful metaphor, that’s all the wall was,” Avlon added.

“This actually shows, potentially, an opening to get something done with Democrats,” he continued. “Because if the issue is border security and not a border wall, you’ve got some room to work on something comprehensive.”

The back-and-forth between Cuomo and Conway — who have often debated on CNN before, including one exchange in July that lasted 35 minutes without commercial interruption — continued on Thursday morning with Cuomo needling Conway for her comments on Twitter.

Conway had also said “nobody” in the White House “talks about Hillary Clinton,” a claim Cuomo disputed.

“hey kellyanne – good thing no one talks about hrc [Hillary Rodham Clinton] in the white house. is ‘nobody’ new potus code name?,” asked Cuomo.

hey kellyanne – good thing no one talks about hrc in the white house. is “nobody” new potus code name? https://t.co/3r9q0VWKOK

— Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) January 11, 2018

“Hey @ChrisCuomo – when we are forced to think/talk about hrc it’s because you and your colleagues can’t let go of an election she/you lost. Sad! Proven further by after a 30-minute interview about policy and accomplishments, HRC is all you and others can say…,” Conway retorted.

Hey @ChrisCuomo – when we are forced to think/talk about hrc it’s because you and your colleagues can’t let go of an election she/you lost. Sad!

Proven further by after a 30-minute interview about policy and accomplishments, HRC is all you and others can say… https://t.co/SuL5EspkRE

— Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) January 11, 2018

Cuomo will work double duty for the network over the next few weeks. In addition to anchoring “New Day” each morning, the former 20/20 co-anchor is hosting “Cuomo Prime Time” in the network’s 9 p.m. time slot. The program is focusing on Trump’s first year in office.

The 47-year-old licensed attorney joined CNN in 2013 and is the son of former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo‎ (D) and the brother of current New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D).