Conservatives like Scott Jennings and Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) have been providing some crucial wake up calls on CNN, especially lately, with Guy pointing to one particular segment as an illustration of "Everything Wrong With the Media." Last Thursday, during an episode of "CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip," Jennings and Lawler reminded how President Joe Biden's legacy is a "failed" one, especially thanks to the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. Jennings was back at it as well during another panel discussion, this time during Sunday's edition of "State of the Union."
As host Dana Bash asked a question on how Biden's time in office will be remembered, Hillary Clinton's 2016 advisor Karen Finney offered, in all seriousness, how "Joe Biden's record with regard to the things that he's accomplished, I think, will stand the test of time."
Finney did also, however, acknowledge that Jennings and other conservatives would express concerns about the president's health. "Now, what my dear friend Scott and others will talk about, and, quite frankly, I'm going to say this on it rightfully so, it was very disturbing to learn late in the year about just how bad--how poor his health has become," she conceded, though it's still not worth getting too excited. "And, like many, I did not realize that it had gotten to that point. That being said, I think he still -- look, he showed up for the job. He got the work done. I think some of the accomplishments also in the Middle East and foreign policy will also stand the test of time," she claimed, making points that are at best debatable, especially since the Middle East is arguably much worse off.
Further, to not realize that Biden's health had become so poor seems to be a matter of willful ignorance in many ways, or at least buying into how the Biden-Harris administration and their allies in the mainstream media were gaslighting the American people for so long. It was also a problem that had been in place for so long.
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Jennings did chime in, to take issue with the Middle East, specifically with the Israel-Hamas conflict. "You think the Middle East is in better shape today than when he took office?" Jennings questioned Finney. "Well, I think he got our hostages home. I think that's a big deal," she responded, prompting Jennings to further question her points, as there are indeed still more hostages being held by Hamas, including American citizens.
As bad as Biden has handled the Middle East and foreign policy overall, Jennings still had more to say about the outgoing president. "Look, I think he's going to leave office in disgrace. The Hunter Biden pardon was disgraceful. He's going to be remembered largely for inflation and for the disastrous Afghanistan pullout," he said, bringing up another key point, which was that he pardoned his son as well as the consistently high inflation during the Biden-Harris administration.
He also continued to speak further on Biden's health, as he's done before, including when a report from The Wall Street Journal was released earlier this month. " And I think as we continue to--we're just getting the first draft of this now," Jennings offered. "But as we continue to learn about the massive cover-up that went on, not about his health, but about his mental acuity, to cover that up, the efforts that were undertaken by the White House staff, by his family, not in the last couple of months, but for all four years, I think it's going to be a really ugly chapter. It's a diminished presidency because of it. And I think we still don't know the full extent of what they did to try to hide what they have been doing over in the West Wing," Jennings said.
Another panelist and frequent guest, Bakari Sellers, had to respond by bringing up a favorite talking points of Democrats: what happened on January 6, and tying that to President-elect Donald Trump, shortly before he left office during his first term.
"Well, I think leaving in disgrace is when you have an insurrection at the state -- at the Capitol. Like, that's leaving in disgrace," Sellers said, not yet speaking to the actual question, which is about how Biden will be remembered.
"Being impeached twice is leaving in disgrace. So that's a difference," Sellers said, though it's of course worth reminding that Trump was acquitted in both instances, and that the second impeachment trial didn't even take place until after he had already left office.
"I think Joe Biden's going to be remembered in the short term for what you were talking about, whether or not he had the capacity to lead, who knew what when. I mean, there are many people -- outside of the very small network of Anita Dunn and Valerie Biden Owens and Jill Biden and Hunter, there aren't many people who knew the concerns that were there or whether or not he was up or fit for the job," Sellers continued, finally getting to the question at hand. "And so those questions will be asked."
Sellers then compared Biden to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). "Over the long term, this is somebody a lot like Mitch McConnell. You don't necessarily have to agree with everything they stood for. You don't have to agree with every vote. But you always knew they put the American people first. You always knew that," Sellers offered, which certainly cannot be said about Biden, especially when it comes to his divisive presidency. "We had different paths of getting there, but that's what they believed in. They believed in this country. They believed in these institutions, and they did their best to strengthen them from different perspectives and different purchase."
He’s a disgrace. Pardons. Commutations. Corruption. Coverups. The absolute degrading and ransacking of the presidency. https://t.co/BufpOTixei
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) December 29, 2024
Earlier this week and last Thursday weren't the only times that Jennings brought up Biden's failed legacy, with a mention of pardoning Hunter. He and Finney also went at it at the start of this month, when the pardon was first announced, as we also covered at the time.
"He’s leaving office in disgrace—a liar. There’s no spinning this. It has nothing to do with Trump and everything to do with the character of Joe Biden," Jennings had said in part at the time, also expressing harsh words towards White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who repeatedly claimed Biden would not pardon his son.
Scott Jennings Shuts Down CNN Panelist Trying to Blame Trump for Biden Pardoning Hunter
— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) December 2, 2024
This is the mic drop moment of the day.
“We are sitting on the biggest cover-up of who knows what crimes, and Biden knows exactly when it started. He’s leaving office in disgrace—a liar.… pic.twitter.com/ZtigL8IjZe
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