CNN's conservative pundit Scott Jennings (Photo: Screen capture)
CNN anchor Kasi Hunt had a volley of horrible news to deliver to President Donald Trump and Republicans amid the president’s unpopular trade war with Canada, his announcement of an international trade deal with Argentina (that puts US cattlemen in the crosshairs) and Trump's continuing high-priced saga of Trump’s Iran War — which is still drumming up US gas and food prices.
After ticking down the list, Hunt turned to Republican pundit and frequent panelist Scott Jennings, who is reportedly being considered the next White House press secretary, with the departure of Karoline Leavitt.
She then asked him to earn his keep with Trump by softening the bad news for him.
“Maybe you can continue your audition here,” she advised.”
“If you go down the list of things that the president views as his own accomplishments, and then you talk to voters about what they want, and you look at their net approval. Okay? On prices and inflation, he’s 48 points underwater. Health care, 30 points. Foreign policy, 27 points. Education 20 points. Immigration — he’s 15 points underwater. And he wants to air a bunch of ads featuring his own words in the midterm elections. Like, what would you say? Like if you want to keep the House in the Senate, should he not be, going about it differently?”
“First of all, I don’t audition or beg for anything,” insisted Jennings, before launching into his best effort to re-scramble the bad news into a positive.
“If the president decides to unload some of his war chests, which I understand he's going to, I would focus on a few things that are absolutely going right. The border is closed; drug prices are falling faster than they have in 60 years. Taxes are cut. And crime in this country is lower and violent crime is lower than it's been in 100 years. These are all quality of life.”
“But he’s 13 points underwater on crime,” Hunt pointed out.
“That's the purpose of a campaign," Jennings insisted. "You have to tell people and you have to stay relentlessly focused on it. And that's what ad campaigns are for. And this is where the Republicans do have an advantage. They have a massive war chest at the committee level, at the independent expenditure level, and even at the candidate level, the purpose of a campaign is to refocus the electorate on the things that they’re doing right.”
Podcaster Cari Champion called Trump “not self-aware,” however, and took issue with how Republicans should be taking Trump’s behavior so close to the midterms.
“This president is actually blaming the Republicans,” said Champion. “We see day in and day out that he's blaming them for what is wrong. When [Trump said] it's the Republicans they're mad at. They're not mad at me. … If I was a Republican and I was in office right now and he's telling me what I'm doing wrong, I'd be like, are you serious? How dare you? Because I'm doing everything to help you in the shenanigans that you're up to and acting as if nothing is wrong. And now you're blaming me.”