Republican strategist and President Donald Trump supporter Scott Jennings managed to muddle his signals during a CNN panel discussion over voter apathy, arguing that voters are weary of partisan attacks on the other side while simultaneously attacking liberals as anti-American.
CNN anchor Kasie Hunt ticked off survey numbers at the panel table revealing that only 36 percent of people feel the United States is the greatest country and 41 percent believing it is only one of the world’s greatest nations. But 23 percent of people proclaimed flatly that “we're not one of the greatest countries.”
After a table discussion on divided U.S. politics, Jennings put Democrats in the 23 percent.
“If you look at the splits on that by politics … on how people feel about America, the promise of America, if you look at whether they're proud of their country or not … Republicans and conservatives are proud to be Americans, and it's Democrats and liberals who are not,” Jennings told the panel. “… I think there's a political movement in this country right now built on telling people that America is rotten at its core.”
Former White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield accused Jennings of “being the problem.”
“This point about partisan divide and the way you're breaking down partisan divide is exactly the problem,” Bedingfield said. “This is exactly why people [fell this way.”
“The problem, to tell you the truth about the numbers?”
“No, Scott. Give me a break. Like, come on,” pressed Bedingfield, who used to work on the Biden White House. “The fact that we are in an era where our politics is so personally vicious, even if you are not willing to concede the idea that Americans don't feel 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 so they don’t engage.”
“We have we have Democrats cheering for Iran,” Jennings countered, without mentioning the number of MAGA who personally cheer Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s attack on its neighboring democracy of Ukraine.
“Oh, what’s the point,” said Bedingfield.
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