NewsNation host Chris Cuomo has opened fire on rival Scott Jennings, calling him a “simpering Trump defender.”
Cuomo was reacting to a video of Jennings on Tuesday’s NewsNight on CNN. Parkland school shooting survivor Cameron Kasky took issue with Jennings using the term “illegals,” considering that ICE was now targeting American citizens during its raids in Minnesota.
“Who are you to tell me what I can and can’t say?” Jennings said, then asked Kasky, “How are you going to enforce your edict on me, just out of curiosity?”
Kasky said, “I understand that your job is predicated on just getting increasingly more demented every single week,” and noted Jennings was “doing this on purpose.”
Cuomo took to his X account to take issue with the CNN footage, particularly the part when Jennings asked Kasky how he was “gonna enforce” him not calling people “illegals.”
“What are you, bullying now?” Cuomo said, before saying that people on both sides of the political divide now use the term “undocumented,” as “illegals” seemed “inhuman.”
“They changed the vernacular, and you know it,” Cuomo said to Jennings in his video message. “But that’s not the point.”
Referencing Jennings’ tone toward Kasky, Cuomo continued to address the CNN host, saying, “You’re a tough guy now, huh? I thought you were just supposed to be the simpering, but open to conversation Trump defender. Of course, I remember you when you said he was like the worst thing in the world. But everything’s convenience these days, right? It’s getting you paid.”
Jennings is now CNN’s conservative of choice, and hosts his own right-wing radio show, but in a March 2016 column in the Louisville Courier Journal, he referred to Trump as an “authoritarian.”
In his X video, Cuomo then suggested that Jennings could possibly get into physical trouble if he kept wondering how someone could make him stop saying human beings were “illegal.”
“So somebody beats your ass because you’re being rude and disrespectful, and causing division in this country that’s causing distress and pain all over the streets, and making people want to hurt one another,” Cuomo said.
“If you really want to be a part of that, as the expression goes, FAFO, don’t be a tough guy.” FAFO stands for F--- Around, Find Out.
Cuomo finished his attack by telling Jennings to remember to be a “decent” person.
“You’re not a tough guy. Okay? You’re a guy with slick to the side hair, a slick tongue, and everybody knows what you’re doing. Don’t be a tough guy, not you.”
The Daily Beast has contacted representatives for Jennings for comment.
Jennings was defending the Trump administration and the ICE raids in Minnesota, where 3,000 federal agents have taken to the streets, provoking mass protests.
The anger intensified after an ICE agent shot and killed 37-year-old U.S. citizen, Renee Nicole Good.
