CNN contributor Scott Jennings didn’t hold back on a recent panel discussion, skewering the sudden shift in tone from the left regarding President-elect Donald Trump. After years of labeling Trump as an existential threat to democracy, even comparing him to history’s most notorious dictators, Democrats and their media allies appear to be backtracking, quickly pivoting to gestures of cordiality and acceptance. Jennings couldn’t help but mock the left’s abrupt embrace, delivering a pointed critique that highlighted the hypocrisy he sees in their actions.
Jennings’ remarks came after a series of high-profile meetings between Trump and establishment figures who had previously painted him as a dangerous authoritarian. First, President Joe Biden hosted Trump at the White House, despite his history of denouncing him as a threat to democratic values. Next, MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski admitted they, too, had visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
For Jennings, the spectacle was too much. “I’m amazed. I did not expect Hitler to get so many meeting requests,” he quipped, making his point loud and clear: the left’s pre-election rhetoric about Trump being “fascist” has been exposed as little more than a convenient talking point.
“I did not expect Hitler to get so many meeting requests”: @ScottJenningsKY mocks the implosion of the “fascism” and “Literally Hitler” narratives in light of Joe & Mika making pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago and Biden cheerfully hosting Trump at the WH pic.twitter.com/Y6shQjFTLq
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) November 19, 2024
Jennings argued that this reversal should prompt a moment of reckoning among Democratic voters, who were led to believe by their leaders that Trump represented something akin to an existential crisis. “All of the rhetoric — the fascism, the Hitler, the Nazi rally — it was all a bunch of BS,” he stated. His message was clear: if Democrats genuinely believed their own warnings, they wouldn’t now be lining up to shake hands and mend fences with Trump.
Countering Jennings was Professor Jeff Jarvis, who doubled down on the totalitarian narrative, insisting that Trump’s presidency should still be treated as a threat to democratic norms.
“It is journalism’s job to cover it that way — not to back off,” Jarvis argued, though without substantiating his claims. Jennings, by contrast, argued that this relentless fear-mongering had been exposed as more political theater than principled stance, a sentiment that, judging by reactions online, resonates with many Americans who are tired of what they see as performative outrage from media and political elites.
And @megynkelly with a virtual murder of @morningmika and @JoeNBC‘s careers after their Trump visit.
“Go f**k yourselves, you dishonest jokes of faux journalists.” pic.twitter.com/XuiEaq8TBI
— Rusty (@Rusty_Weiss) November 19, 2024
Jennings’ critique echoed sentiments voiced by others, including former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, who, in her characteristic blunt style, dismissed Brzezinski and Scarborough’s Mar-a-Lago visit, implying they had betrayed their supposed convictions. For Jennings, the situation reflects a larger problem within modern media: a tendency to lean on extreme language for political effect rather than balanced, honest reporting.
