CNN’s MAGA mouthpiece Scott Jennings squirmed when challenged on President Donald Trump’s claims that the war in Iran has been “won.”
Speaking in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump declared victory, saying: “We’ve won this war. This war has been won.”
However, Iran continues to strike targets throughout the region and the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow shipping lane that connects Gulf energy to the rest of the world, remains effectively closed.
Posed with Trump’s statements on CNN’s NewsNight with Abby Phillip on Tuesday, Jennings refused to disagree with the president. He was grilled by Adam Mockler of MeidasTouch, who is 25 years his junior, but wriggled out of backing Trump’s assessment.
Throughout a tense segment, Mockler doggedly grilled Jennings with the same question. “Wait, no. Do you agree that we’ve won? He said we’ve won. Yes or no? It’s not a hard question,” he demanded at one point, with Jennings becoming evasive or not answering at all.
“To me, if you exit this with an Iran that has a defanged, as it relates to missiles, as it relates to an aggressive navy, you take away their ability to make nuclear weapons, and you leave the remnant here unable to be a supporter of terrorism, that is an unequivocal win for the United States of America,” Jennings argued.
Mockler shot back: “I want to show you the very careful wording Scott is using here. He’s saying, ‘if that happens,’ which means that he disagrees with Trump’s statement that it already has happened.”
He added that while Trump had called for an international coalition to guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz, no one answered the call, “because he spent the past year threatening to invade Greenland.”
“Then he comes all the way back around to saying, ‘Listen, I didn’t break up with her.’ Or no, sorry, ‘She didn’t break up with me. I broke up with her. I didn’t need them in the first place.’”
Jennings tried to seize on Mockler tripping over his words. “You almost had it. You almost had it!” he sarcastically declared.
As Mockler tried to continue speaking, he added, “You screwed it. You screwed it up!”
Mockler, 23, showed much more maturity than the seasoned network talking head. “I want to ask you,” he said to Jennings. “Do you agree, yes or no, do you agree with Trump that this war is won?”
Jennings immediately became evasive. “I agree that we have devastated…” he began, before Mockler cut in.
“Wait, no. Do you agree that we’ve won? He said we’ve won. Yes or no? It’s not a hard question,” Mockler pressed.
After some spirited crosstalk, he added: “Well. Well. Do you think we’ve won or not?”
Jennings began: “If you consider a condition of winning, destroying their military capabilities…”
“I don’t,” Mockler interjected. “We haven’t. Wait, if that’s true, why can’t the Strait of Hormuz be open if their military is destroyed?”
Kasie Hunt, standing in for host Abby Phillip, stepped in, asking Jennings about reported plans for the military to deploy at least 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East in the coming days.
“The big picture question I do have here, Scott, is if it is true that we have won, why are we sending the 82nd airborne?” Hunt asked.
“To be prepared for what happens next,” he said.
