As families are sitting down to Thanksgiving on Thursday, many might want to avoid politics, something CNN's Scott Jennings acknowledged on Wednesday night. If politics are to come up, however, he has some advice on how to handle "a liberal Debbie Downer" at the table, just weeks after President-elect Donald Trump won the 2024 election.
Host Laura Coates specifically asked how Jennings would respond to claims Trump doesn't have a mandate. Jennings has pointed out ever since the early morning hours following the election that Trump does, in fact, have a mandate.
Oh, please. Donald Trump has gotten more votes every time he has run for three straight elections. He won the national popular vote for the first time for Republicans since 2004, and his party won the House and the Senate. The American people have given him a mandate to govern. They want the Republican Party to take an action," Jennings reminded when it comes to how Trump also won the popular vote.
"And you, sir, bringing this up to me at the table would be wise to tell your party, don't be obstructionist, because I don't think the American people are going to like it," Jennings continued, as Coates and the program's other guest, Van Jones, offered quite the reactions, even before Jones opened his mouth, as his face said it all.
When Jones was asked if another candidate besides Vice President Kamala Harris would have won, Jones admitted "we don't know, we'll never know," as he tried to make excuses for the failed Democratic nominee by blaming President Joe Biden, as other Democrats have done. He even called her performance "very, very impressive," also claiming, "she had Donald Trump scared right up to the very end. I think we should be proud of Kamala Harris."
Jennings had more fighting words from there about Harris, leading to chuckles from Coates and Jones, as they both shook their heads. "Well, I can see why you're down on Kamala Harris. I mean, she was one of the worst Democratic nominees of our lifetime. And presidential campaigns have a way of revealing the talent levels of the people who were in them," he pointed out about Harris and her campaign. "And I think we found the ceiling she bumped up against. If you hadn't remembered it from 2020 or 2019, she'd make it to 2020. Now, you really have seen it on display, and maybe she'll try it again in four years from now," he continued, speaking to Harris' past presidential runs, where she failed to win a single primary vote, as she had to drop out before a single primary contest even occurred in 2020.
As Jennings hinted at, Harris may be running again in 2028, with polls indicating that's who Democratic primary voters claim they want. Democratic operatives have been looking to shut that down, though, which may be why they released that disastrous video of Harris and her message on Tuesday night, three weeks after she lost to Trump.
From there, Jennings had words not merely for Harris as a candidate and the sitting vice president, but Democrats overall, and their failures. "We'll never know if another Democrat could win, but I'll tell you this: Joe Biden and his administration and what Kamala Harris helped him do have tainted the Democratic Party, it delivered Republican majorities in Washington D.C., and now their party is in the wilderness trying to figure out what went wrong, and the American people are expecting Republicans to lead us out of this morass, this malaise, if you will, that we've been in for the last four years."
Coates himself asked about "loyalty" towards Trump, specifically when it comes to those whom Trump has tasked to serve in his Cabinet and in his administration. As he got even spicier from there, Jennings mocked the idea that the president-elect would surround himself with those who support him and his agenda. It's also worth mentioning that the statements from Trump himself announcing such picks have spoken highly of how these people have worked for Trump in some capacity before, including during his first term and/or on the campaign.
I mean, honestly, are you--are you complaining that a president of the United States is appointing people to his government that, oh, my gosh, supported his election campaign, that support his agenda?! That's unheard of. We've never heard of this before. That's crazy talk. Every president appoints people to the cabinet that supported them, that supports the things they want to do. I mean, my goodness gracious. Joe Biden ended up appointing Pete Buttigieg as secretary of transportation because he said, well, you know, I like trains, choo- choos are fun!"
As Jones continued to shake his head, Jennings still promoted the Cabinet picks, with another reminder not just about what Trump wants, but the American people as well. "This is a great cabinet. This is great picks. These people are going to shake up Washington D.C, and so what if they're loyal to Donald Trump? That's what you -- that's what the American people voted for, a government that's going to follow Donald Trump's agenda that he ran on! That's what they voted for. That's how he won. The people should execute his agenda."
To counteract, Jones claimed in part that "nobody voted to destroy America's government. And a lot of these picks have no qualification at all except loyalty, and that's the problem," which is a narrative we've heard before from plenty of Democrats.
The final questions dealt with Jennings' and Jones' preferences for Thanksgiving dishes and desserts, with Jennings also debuting his pilgrim hat for what he called "the real debate," as he offered, "We're going to make America pilgrim again." The two even disagreed on their choice of differences, and if it's even "dressing" or "stuffing," as Jones begged with laughter in his voice, "please don't!"
Most folks don’t want to argue politics at Thanksgiving but if you find yourself in a scrape with a liberal Debbie Downer this year here are some tips on how to win! (don’t miss my Pilgrim hat @cnn debut at the end 😂 🦃) pic.twitter.com/EUrZnfODHx
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) November 28, 2024
Well, @VanJones68 and I didn’t agree on much last night. But I did surprise @thelauracoates with my new MAPA hat - Make America Pilgrim Again! pic.twitter.com/1dSG2AWQDM
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) November 28, 2024
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