What To Know
- Scott Jennings disagreed with fellow CNN analysts about Jenna Bush Hager’s recent conversation with the four living former presidents.
- His commented about Democrats believing that “America is rotten to its core” frustrated his fellow panelists.
Scott Jennings shocked some of his CNN colleagues during a roundtable discussion on April 21. The group discussed Jenna Bush Hager‘s interview with the four living former presidents (George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden), and Jennings brought up some takes that Kasie Hunt and the rest of the panel found incredulous.
“I like it when our leaders talk about a hopeful future. I think that’s good for the country,” Jennings began. “I guess I sort of reject the premise of the conversation a little in that these are somehow ‘dark times’ and we’re living through this ‘uncertain rough patch.’ I mean, I’m pretty happy, and I think a lot of people are.”
Hunt then brought up a recent NBC poll that asked Americans, “Do you expect life for your generation to be better, worse, or about the same?” The results were 30%, 48%, and 22%, respectively. “I think in many ways the numbers you see on the screen helps explain why some of the messaging that Donald Trump and other populists like Bernie Sanders, why what they have brought to the table has been resonating,” Hunt explained.
She continued, “I take your point, you don’t want to take the premise that people are going to be optimistic. But, bottom line, that’s not a number about politics. That’s people feeling the promise of America isn’t what it used to be.”
Hunt then pulled up another poll that asked responders, “The United States is: the greatest country in the world, one of the greatest countries in the world, or not one of the greatest countries.” The responses were 36%, 41%, and 23%, respectively.
Jennings then jumped in to ask, “If you looked at that split by politics, what would you find? If you looked at the splits on how people feel about America, the promise of America, if you look at whether they’re proud of their country or not, Gallup has measured this, Republicans and conservatives are proud to be Americans and Democrats and liberals are not.”
Hunt admitted, “This is the opposite of where I wanted to go with that,” but Jennings continued, “You’d find the lines on the graph going [opposite ways], and honestly, I think there’s a political movement in this country right now built on telling people that America is rotten to its core, and its not the Republican ideology.”
Kate Bedingfield was frustrated with Jennings at this point and began, “I think this point about partisan divide and the way you’re bringing up partisan divide is exactly the problem.” As she continued, he cut her off to say, “The problem to tell you the truth about the numbers?” Bedingfield replied, “Scott, give me a break,” which prompted the conservative pundit to tell her, “I’m not gonna give you a break about the math.”
She was able to continue her thought by adding, “The fact that we are in an era where our politics are so personally vicious … even if you are willing to concede the idea that Americans are not optimistic about the future, you must be willing to concede that our politics right now is personal, vicious, divided, ugly, in a way that turns regular people off.”