CNN Panel Erupts as Scott Jennings Claims Democrats Believe ‘America Is Rotten to Its Core’

A CNN panel erupted as Scott Jennings claimed democrats believe “America is rotten to its core” — a perspective Jennings slammed as antithetical to the “Republican ideology.”

The panelists kicked off their discussion with a debriefing of Today co-host Jenna Bush Hager‘s interview with four former presidents, including Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and her dad, George W. Bush. All four expressed hope for America’s future ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary.

Jennings informed CNN’s Kasie Hunt and fellow panelists that he somewhat rejects “the premise of the conversation” Hager had with the former presidents.

“Look, I like it when our leaders talk about a hopeful future,” Jennings said. “I think that’s good for the country. I guess I sort of reject the premise of the conversation a little in that, you know, 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 pulled up an NBC poll that asked respondents to rank whether they expect life for their generation to be better, worse or about the same. In the responses she shared, 49 percent of respondents answered “worse” in contrast to 30 percent who answered “better.”

“That’s not a number about politics, right?” Hunt explained. “That’s about people feeling like the promise of America isn’t what it used to be. Right? And, even if we look at ‘the United States is the greatest country in the world’ [poll responses], 36 percent of people said that was true, 41 percent said it’s one of, but 23 percent of people said, we’re not one of the greatest countries.”

Negating Hunt’s bid to take the politics out of the numbers, Jennings asked Hunt to pull the split of these answers based on political affiliations, though she did not have that information available.

“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 it’s Democrats and liberals who are not,” Jennings argued. “And I think if you looked at the splits in that, you’d find … the lines going this way,” he made a horizontal motion with his hands as he continued, “And honestly, I mean, I think there’s a political movement in this country right now built on telling people that America is rotten at its core. It’s not the Republican ideology.”

Fellow panelist and democratic analyst Kate Bedingfield warned that Jennings rhetoric illustrates a key problem.

“I think this point about partisan divide and the way you’re breaking down partisan divide is exactly the problem,” she said. “This is exactly why people—”

Jennings cut her off.

“The problem, to tell you the truth about the numbers?” he quizzed.

“No, Scott, give me a break,” Bedingfield quickly retorted. “Come on.”

But Jennings wouldn’t relent.

“I’m not going to give you a break about the math,” he said.

Bedingfield picked up her train of thought.

“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, doesn’t engage,” she said.

Jennings agreed as the panelists began speaking over each other.

Eventually, CNN legal analyst Elliot Williams chimed in with a different take on the conversation.

“We are having a conversation about the future of America and lofty goals,” he said. “What will trend on the internet after this is you two fighting with each other.”

The conversation got “weird,” as Bedingfield put it, when Jennings quickly defended his position and claimed not to be fighting with Bedingfield, agreeing with Williams’ suggestion that he and Bedingfield do “love each other” before jokingly telling Williams, “I don’t care for you as much.”

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