Scott Jennings Squirms Through CNN Colleagues’ Victory Lap
The Trump ally was having a bad night at work.
CNN’s top conservative Scott Jennings has squirmed while watching a Democratic colleague’s victory lap live on air.
Jennings joined CNN’s live coverage of the midterm results, which soon turned into a grim night for the Republican Party and his ally, President Donald Trump.
As victory after victory rolled in, Jennings was forced to watch colleague Van Jones gloat after Anderson Cooper asked if the result was “bigger than you hoped for?”
Expressing his delight, while seated directly next to Jennings, Jones said, “This is like Christmas and a birthday and the Easter Bunny and Halloween. This is the repudiation of Trumpism that people have been hoping for.”
Van Jones and Scott Jennings on CNN.
CNN
At that point, Jennings rolled his eyes.
Jones compared Trump to a “kleptocratic ruler,” noting that they “get in power and they ensconce themselves for decades.”
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He noted, “In America, 24 months later, knock it off, we don’t want it.”
Jones then said, “If you join a cult, at some point, the cult leader takes you to Jonestown. And tries to get you to drink the Kool-Aid. This is Jonestown for the Republican Party.”
Once again, Jennings looked aghast after hearing the link to the religious cult led by Jim Jones. Jones ran a remote compound in Guyana for his followers. In November 1978, it was the site of a mass murder-suicide with over 900 deaths after consuming a beverage laced with cyanide, tranquilizers, and sedatives.
Van Jones and Scott Jennings talk midterm disaster on CNN.
CNN
Jones was not done, saying, “They drank the Kool-Aid, and they have candidates that are dropping like flies across the country, because they did not stand up to this guy when he was doing things that were wrong, when he was violating the law, when he was running over our system; they didn’t stand up to him. They’re paying their price.”
“It’s a Jonestown tonight,” he added. “You join a cult, at some point, you go to Jonestown. That’s where you are tonight Republicans.”
Cooper then asked Jennings to reply, making a crack about checking what was in his glass after the Kool-Aid reference.
Van Jones and Scott Jennings talk midterm disaster on CNN.
CNN
“You realize I’m sitting right here?,” Jennings said, jokingly. “I can hear everything you’re saying. I’ve been here the entire time!”
The conservative broadcaster, who had been rumored to become the new White House press secretary, then made a rare criticism of Trump and Republicans.
“Well, look, I’m not gonna sugarcoat it,” Jennings said. “There’s a political science term for what’s happening; it’s called a country a-- whooping.”
He then listed some reasons for the Republican disaster, including issues of affordability created by Trump’s war with Iran.
“The most immediate issue is cost of living and gas prices. And that is the bottom line,” Jennings said as his midterm post-mortem. “You can read into a lot of other things. You could be jubilant about this, that, or the other, but at the end of the day, the American people have here and now concerns, and that’s really the lesson you’ve got to take away from this.”
President Donald Trump with Vivek Ramaswamy.
Nathan Howard/REUTERS
Later in the CNN coverage, Jennings called out more MAGA campaign mistakes.
“They did spend a lot of money,” Jennings said of Republicans, “but sometimes you’re spending money packaging up dog food that dogs don’t want to eat.”
Jennings then singled out some Republican candidates he had issues with, including calling disgraced Texas Sen. Ken Paxton “a huge mistake.”
Paxton was beaten by Democrat James Talarico, despite Trump showering insults on him for months.
Jennings then screwed his face up after mentioning Vivek Ramaswamy, the Ohio Republican who lost to Democrat Amy Acton, despite a vile campaign ad exploiting her childhood trauma.
“Twice now, he seems to have misunderstood the object of politics, which is to make people like you and not be a human repellent,” Jennings said.
He called the ad “one of the dumbest strategic blunders at a time when you could ill afford it because of the environment.”
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