CNN’s Scott Jennings Takes Victory Lap After Speaker Vote, Trolls Colleagues Who Questioned Trump’s Power Over GOP

CNN’s Scott Jennings took a victory lap after Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) won a vote to hold on to his gavel on the first ballot on Friday, even trolling his colleagues for their commentary earlier in the day.

After anchor Jake Tapper suggested that some members of the GOP caucus might have been “flexing” by making Johnson sweat it out, Jennings seemed to disagree.

“Yeah, flexing — maybe it was a spasm –I don’t know,” he replied before turning his attention to those who had posited that Johnson’s uncertain fate spoke to President-elect Donald Trump’s relative weakness, given that he had endorsed Johnson.

“I mean, remember, ultimately, maybe some of my colleagues here today will want to revise and extend their remarks about the relative influence of Donald Trump. He is the head of the Republican Party, he wanted Johnson, Johnson’s going to get it on the first ballot after a little bit of conversation on the House floor,” mused Jennings. “That is unequivocally a good thing. We’re not going to sit here for 18 ballots or whatever. We’re not going to sit here all night. Here at 2:30 in the afternoon, the Republican Party is showing that it can unify itself in relatively short order for the purpose of helping Donald Trump get started on his agenda.”

“For Republican voters all over the country, this will be a really piece of really good news this afternoon,” he concluded.

Earlier in the day, Jim Acosta and Maria Cardona had argued that Trump “just doesn’t have the same kind of push and pull with MAGA world that he once did,” because he’s a “lame duck president.”

Later, Jennings sparred with Democratic operative Ashley Etienne over a similar contention.

Watch above via CNN.