To protect sensitive Democrats from opinions that might make them uncomfortable, establishment media outlets seldom showcase anti-establishment voices.
Thus, when CNN hired commentator Scott Jennings in 2017, network executives could not have known that seven years later, the former Republican strategist would emerge as one of the most effective spokesmen for — and symbols of — President-elect Donald Trump’s conservative-populist MAGA coalition.
Though regularly outnumbered on CNN panels by four or five to one, Jennings has given his pro-establishment antagonists all they can handle.
Moreover, in the weeks since Trump’s landslide victory over Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, Jennings has forced CNN panelists and viewers to hear the truth about pro-establishment Democrats’ deepening estrangement from a majority of American voters.
For instance, in a clip posted to the social media platform X on Nov. 9, Jennings referred to the Democratic Party as a “professional fainting society.” Even liberal CNN commentator Van Jones had to chuckle at that phrase.
In other words, Democrats have gone so woke that they take offense at everything.
Not usually in the biz of advising Dems but until their party becomes something other than a professional fainting society they are gonna struggle with working class Americans. pic.twitter.com/nX07PBOK4n
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) November 10, 2024
Jennings also expressed the view of many traditional conservatives when he explained how and why Democrats have alienated young men.
Would you watch CNN now that the network employs Scott Jennings?
“I think the Democrats in this election made men feel like — that, ‘The patriarchy is over, boys, and we’re gonna put you in the back seat for a while, and you’re just gonna have to accept it,’” he said in a clip posted to X on Nov. 20.
Discussed why Democrats are totally in the wilderness when it comes to men last night on @cnn. pic.twitter.com/cyivwGCuH9
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) November 20, 2024
Meanwhile, Jennings also spoke for Trump supporters who continue to regard the COVID era as an authoritarian nightmare.
In a clip posted to X on Nov. 15 — one day after the president-elect nominated former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a MAGA favorite, to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services — Jennings voiced the sentiments of millions of MAGA voters when he denounced COVID-era lockdowns and mandates as “garbage.”
The RFK / HHS talk has dredged up an important point – trust in the public health regime is very low because of Covid and what turned out to be garbage mandates that hurt real people. I discussed on @cnn tonight. pic.twitter.com/WtWCXgvsJJ
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) November 15, 2024
Incredibly, Jennings has sometimes gotten so far under his colleagues’ skin that he has them refuting their own network’s reports.
For instance, in a clip posted to X Tuesday, Jennings incurred the displeasure of his fellow panelists when he characterized Elon Musk’s X as the most ideologically balanced social media platform.
“Who’s your source?” multiple panelists yelled in disbelief.
“We reported it on this network,” the conservative commentator replied.
A clip of CNN data analyst Harry Enten showing a breakdown of Democrats (48 percent) and Republicans (47 percent) on X followed immediately thereafter.
When I said on @cnn last night that @X is the most ideologically balanced platform, folks weren’t happy. Survey says… pic.twitter.com/VXVEbvwd38
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) November 26, 2024
Finally, on the morning after the election, Jennings described Trump’s victory as the “revenge” of ordinary, working-class Americans.
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
Jennings’s effectiveness as a pro-Trump voice on CNN has grown increasingly obvious of late.
In fact, as a measure of that effectiveness, less than two weeks before the election, The Washington Post ran what amounted to a hit piece on Jennings.
The Post depicted Jennings as combative but also hypocritical, noting that he did not always support Trump.
What those establishment scribes fail to understand, however, is that Jennings symbolizes the entire Trump coalition.
Musk, for instance, did not endorse Trump until July 13, the day of the first assassination attempt. The alliance between the two men then fortified over time.
Kennedy did not come aboard until Aug. 23. Tulsi Gabbard, another former Democrat, joined the Trump team the following week.
Even Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, a strong traditional conservative, did not always support the former and future president.
Thus, when CNN viewers heard Jennings in those clips above — denouncing COVID-era tyranny, defending Musk’s free-speech sanctuary on X, explaining why young men and others feel disgusted and alienated by wokeness, and speaking for the forgotten working class — they heard the voice of millions who successfully united to send Trump back to the White House.
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