CNN Hired A Normal Republican, And Just Look At What Happened: The Best Of Scott Jennings

Legacy media in the United States is notorious for its leftward slant — to the point that it’s rare to see conservative commentators unless they are staunchly opposed to President-elect Donald Trump, outnumbered three-to-one in a panel discussion, or both.

So when CNN hired a relatively normal Republican — Scott Jennings, a public relations consultant and veteran of former President George W. Bush’s White House — it was safe to assume that things could, at least, get interesting. And when it turned out that Jennings could actually hold his own when panel discussions turned into four-against-one pile-ons, all bets were off.

Here are a few of his best moments from 2024.

CNN hosts attempted to set Jennings up by framing a question about the lawfare against Trump in New York, saying that Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) was doing something they called “the Trump pivot” when he argued that the American people were not as worried about the cases against Trump as they were about the coming election.

Jennings, instead of playing along, broke their frame and doubled down on Scott’s assessment.

“They’re not unmoved, his base, they’re outraged by what they see going on in New York, and I would say they’re even more motivated than they were before!”

It must just agitate CNN's liberal base, but CNN analyst Scott Jennings accurately explains that Republicans are outraged at what New York Democrat prosecutors and juries are trying to do to Trump, and Tim Scott is saying it just the way other Republicans will. pic.twitter.com/pPEROsWK5A

— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) February 19, 2024

During a March appearance on “CNN Newsnight” with host Abby Phillip, Jennings correctly assessed the state of things after Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) finally went public with her endorsement of President Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential race.

“Scott, were you surprised to hear her say pretty clearly she would support President Biden in November?” Phillip asked, referring to several Democrats who were angry that Biden had not done more to force Israel into a ceasefire in Gaza. “And some of her colleagues, I’m pretty sure, wouldn’t say that today.”

“No, she’s a Democrat. They’re gonna vote for Biden. I’m not surprised about that,” Jennings replied, pivoting immediately to address Omar’s position on Israel. “I am surprised that, in the year of our Lord, 2024, there is a public relations agent for Hamas sitting in the United States Congress.”

“Ceasefires – she said – don’t happen magically. Well, you know there was a ceasefire in place on October the 6th. And who broke it on October the 7th?” Jennings continued. “I cannot believe honestly what I heard out of that interview. What I want are for those hostages to come home. I want somebody – somebody out there to show just a little bit of remorse that Hamas broke the ceasefire, raped, and murdered horrifically women, all kinds of people. That – that’s it. How about a little bit of concern for those folks? That’s what I’m looking for.”

.@ScottJenningsKY absolutely shredded Ilhan Omar after her appearance on CNN ????????@AbbyDPhillip: “Scott, were you surprised to hear her say pretty clearly she would support President Biden in November? And some of her colleagues, I’m pretty sure, wouldn’t say that today.”… pic.twitter.com/UrKbBYR9Vu

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 13, 2024

Here’s an instant classic from an appearance with veteran anchor Wolf Blitzer, who did his level best to trap Jennings by suggesting that Trump was referring to all immigrants when he used the word “animal” to describe the illegal immigrant who brutally murdered Georgia nursing student Laken Riley.

“Shouldn’t people be condemning that?” Blitzer asked Jennings.

“I listened to the entire tape,” Jennings replied. “[Trump] was specifically talking about the person who murdered Laken Riley in Georgia. And to be honest with you, Wolf, if somebody murders another human being, I think they deserve to be called animals. And I don’t think any American is really going to reject that kind of rhetoric. That poor girl was murdered in cold blood. Is that person who did it, not an animal? I think that’s an apt term.”

Scott Jennings sets Wolf Blitzer straight on the "immigrants are animals" hoax:

"Trump was specifically talking about the person who murdered Laken Riley. That poor girl was murdered in cold blood. Is that person who did it not an animal?" pic.twitter.com/TPArgU8UfA

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) April 3, 2024

Remember Flag-Gate? Early in the summer, as Democrats and legacy media alike were still pretending that Biden was fine and insisting that one of the court cases against Trump would eventually succeed, they stood outside Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s home and tossed a Hail Mary – at his wife.

They attempted to argue that the flags she flew outside their home during a dispute with a liberal neighbor — first an upside-down American flag, and then an Appeal to Heaven flag — reflected on her husband’s ability to render unbiased judgment in any case involving Trump.

Jennings was having none of that.

When asked whether her flying the flags would “erode” his trust in Alito as an unbiased member of the court, he pushed back.

“It’s going to erode my trust in the media and in the Left, because they’re going to try to use this to come up with some garbage take that somehow Justice Alito is going to have to recuse himself from all these cases. They’re going to go do the same character assassination of him — by the way, I know this guy, high character guy — that they go through on Clarence Thomas and any other conservative judge that casts decisions that they don’t like.”

Cheers to @ScottJenningsKY, my former White House colleague (then boss), who worked on Justice Alito’s confirmation with me.

Scott Jennings knows Justice Alito is a good man.

And the leftwing attacks on him are frivolous. pic.twitter.com/u7ixjE7cqS

— ???????? Mike Davis ???????? (@mrddmia) May 18, 2024

Here was Jennings the morning after Biden’s disastrous ABC News debate, noting that the president’s campaign was essentially over, but arguing that Democrats were going to cling to him until the end regardless.

“I was up overnight thinking of the movie Titanic and specifically the string quartet that was playing on the deck. [The Democrats] will ride it out, and they’re gonna play the music … and the ship is going to sink.”

SCOTT JENNINGS: I was up overnight thinking of the movie Titanic and the string quartet that was playing on the deck.

The Democrats will ride it out, and they're gonna play the music, and the ship is going to sink. pic.twitter.com/6P28m0UUa4

— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) June 28, 2024

Within hours of Trump getting shot in the ear at his July 13th rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Blitzer hit Jennings with the claim that political rhetoric needed to cool down “on both sides.”

Jennings’ response was obvious: “Who’s in the hospital?”

Wolf Blitzer just did the "both sides" thing on CNN just now:

Scott Jennings: "Who's in the hospital?"

Wolf: "We have to cool the rhetoric on both sides." pic.twitter.com/PbkFh62bKd

— Mairead Elordi (@JohnsonHildy) July 14, 2024

While Democrats and his CNN colleagues mourned the end of Biden’s campaign, Jennings kept calling balls and strikes.

“It’s odd to me that just a few weeks ago — heck, a few days ago — most Democrats were still looking into television cameras and saying that this person is up to another four years,” Jennings said. “I mean, he’s obviously running on fumes. They weren’t ‘cheap fakes’ no matter what the government told you.”

.@ScottJenningsKY spits STRAIGHT UP FACTS to CNN panel mourning the end of Crooked Joe's campaign ???? pic.twitter.com/uPVUiNTICc

— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) July 25, 2024

When Vice President Kamala Harris — who seized the Democratic nomination without ever winning a single vote on her own — finally agreed to debate Trump, she brought Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) with her.

Jennings referred to the move as “weak sauce” and to Walz as Harris’ “emotional support animal.”

Weak sauce for Kamala Harris to demand an emotional support animal for her first interview. Shows an extreme lack of confidence for Thursday night event on @cnn pic.twitter.com/ZrjGF2nNLz

— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) August 28, 2024

Jennings reacted to the second assassination attempt on Trump, once again torching the Left and media for suggesting that “both sides” needed to tone down the rhetoric in the political arena.

“The rhetoric — they have tried to kill this man twice, okay? He got shot in the ear, and this guy was setting up shop outside of a golf course to try to kill him this weekend,” Jennings said.

“And I know after something like this happens, it’s very fashionable to, you know, talk about rhetoric on both sides,” he continued. “Donald Trump is the target, okay? He’s the current target, and it’s happening, and it’s happened again, and I just — honestly, we have to have a conversation about elections. If you lose an election, the country’s not going to come to an end, okay?”

I’m not interested in “the rhetoric on both sides” today. Trump is the target. He’s survived two assassination attempts. He’s in danger and it’s probably too late to de-radicalize everyone who thinks the country will end if he wins. My latest for @cnn pic.twitter.com/4xD2NXGWT4

— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) September 16, 2024

And to cap things off: his immediate reaction to Trump’s sweeping victory on November 5.

3:38am – reflecting on Trump’s impending victory and coming Harris concession. Trump has a mandate. The late stage mirage of Harris momentum was crushed by regular working class Americans of all races. pic.twitter.com/A1S4WuxOMz

— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) November 6, 2024

Here’s to 2025!