CNN ‘News Night’ pundit Scott Jennings (YouTube/ScreenGrab)
Former CNN contributor Wajahat Ali called for MAGA commenter Scott Jennings to be fired from cable news after his humiliating Thursday night tantrum at liberal pundit Alan Mockler.
Mockler demolished Jennings' arguments defending President Donald Trump’s Iran war, arguing that the war "is going to put us trillions and trillions of dollars more in debt," as well as "failing" and "not going [Republicans’] way."
Jennings grew angry, accusing Mockler of having "the attention span of a gnat." Then he barhed for Mockler to "get your f—— hand out of my face."
By late Friday, Ali was furious that Jennings, who is arguably the only person working at MS NOW who Trump likely favors, still has a job.
“Scott Jennings' ass should be fired. If I had done the same thing, literally CNN would have tweeted, ‘Wajahat Ali is fired’ that night. Last night: fired. F-I-R-E-D, fired. Done,” said Ali. “I asked CNN about an hour ago. I said, ‘so, any repercussions? Any consequences? Have you all heard anything? If you've heard something, let me know.’”
Ali then raged at the networks’ double standard for conservative pundits.
“When I was a CNN contributor for a year right before COVID I was told ‘you are a brand ambassador,’ meaning the way you comport yourself online in speeches and on air, even though you're not salaried and an independent contractor you represent CNN,” Ali added. “Literally I was told by Rebecca Cutler, who is now the head of MSNBC, that ‘you're a brand ambassador’. … [L]ook at the double standards.”
Ali cited the firing of fellow CNN brand ambassador Mark Lamont Hill for making a “river to sea” speech interpreted as being antisemitic, despite the statement also being a call for freedom. Ali also referenced former “Believer” host Reza Aslan, who was abruptly cancelled for calling Trump a “piece of s——” on his personal social media.
“He was a CNN brand ambassador. Guess what? Fired,” said Ali. “Jeffrey Zucker said, ‘oh, you want his scalp? We need to give him a scalp because the right wing of Donald Trump was whining and complaining.’ So, Reza got fired. They wanted someone's scalp. Here's a brown man's scalp. Here's Mark Lamont Hill's scalp, a Black man's scalp.”
Ali called Jennings a “fickle, brittle conservative snowflake” who enjoys the advantage of a media and a Republican Party who all go to “the same golf clubs.”
“They all go to the same after-parties at the White House Correspondence Dinner. They all date each other. They marry each other. They cheat on each other. It's the same Epstein class,” said Ali.