Jennings is no tough guy, okay? And he did work for the Bush administration as it lied to us about weapons of mass destruction. So his track record is as stated, but let's be honest, he's paid to do this.
He is the draw on that show. It's not the host. You can't even name any of the other people on it.
Isn't this what people say they want? Chris Cuomo on his NewsNation show went after far-right magastouge and wannabe tough guy Scott Jennings for melting down when hit with facts by progressive host Adam Mockler. We're going to take a look at clips of Chris Cuomo discussing this with Haraldo Rivera and Chris Cenounu.
I have thoughts to share on this. I'm going to tell you how I think they're right and how I think they're wrong. Let's get into it together.
This exchange between 48-year-old CNN conservative contributor Scott Jennings and 23-year-old progressive podcaster Adam Mockler is a metaphor for what passes as political debate in the hellscape that we are in. We all know that Scott Jennings is more than happy to defend a war with a country that starts with the letters IRA that we [laughter] are currently failing that is going to put us trillions and trillions of dollars more in debt. I was only a few years old while you were in the administration defending prior endless wars.
Now this war is failing is endless to you. Okay. You said it was going to be four to six weeks.
You have the attention span of a net. I debated you on TV four to six weeks ago and you said we were weeks away from it. Now you're making condescending remarks because you can't defend the fact that this war is not going your way.
Wait one more time. Name one political name. Excuse me.
Everybody Everybody hang tight. Okay. No.
Everybody calm down. What a joke. I mean it's just Jennings is no tough guy.
Okay. and he did work for the Bush administration as it lied to us about weapons of mass destruction. So his track record is as stated, but let's be honest, he's paid to do this.
He is the draw on that show. It's not the host. You can't even name any of the other people on it.
Isn't this what people say they want? Millions of clicks, millions of views. Joining me now, News Nation's correspondent at large, Heraldo Rivera, who was sitting at the table when it happened, and former governor of New Hampshire, Chris Cenounu, who was once called a dick by CNN's Anderson Cooper.
And no one argued it wasn't accurate, but it wasn't nice. [laughter] No, I'm kidding. Chris, Haraldo, we are all among friends.
And look, both of you know I can get hot. I would never treat anybody. You'd never see that here.
you'd never see me allow it here because I know how destructive it is to the decorum. But Haraldo, you were there. What was your read?
I was right there. Well, you know, it was it came out of nowhere. I I just I don't have close relationships with Scott Jennings.
I just run into him time to time. And the kid I never met before. Uh and then all of a sudden it it wasn't so much the physicality of it as it was Scott coming back and saying, "Uh, get that effing finger out of my face.
" I said, "Whoa. " Uh, Dusty would never allow that. She'd beat the hell out of that baby.
Uh, so it was kind of stunning to see the interaction, the the violence of it. U, what was the kid saying? Not much.
Uh, he was kind of a smarty pants podcaster. I think you identify him very accurately. One of the, you know, 20some podcasters.
Scotto is a veteran. Uh, and Scott really seemed spontaneously to lose his temper with the with the kid. uh you know if there were blows thrown I would have uh done something about it but it just was to me uh it seemed natural.
It did not seem feigned at all. Seemed sincere uh you know uh if uh if profane with the f-word and you know I I think that's a big change in our business uh you know how people say [ __ ] on a regular basis. Yeah.
Look I mean the words aren't what have the power. It's the emotions behind them Chris. Right.
I mean, you know, I saw the thing, uh, Governor with you and, uh, Anderson, Anderson's a good guy. Okay. I don't know where that was coming from.
Um, I've never heard him do anything like that before. He apologized. You were really nice about it.
But I also think that Anderson Cooper and Chris Cenounu, you are not what they want these days. They want this, okay? This is what the people want on social media, and this is what the algorithms reward.
I do not think Scott Jennings is blind to that. If it were six years ago and he was sitting next to me, I guarantee you he wouldn't have said that for two reasons. One, who was sitting next to him.
And two, it was not rewarded then. Yeah. Look, I mean, I I I like Scott.
I think he does a good job on that joke for the most part. He's sometimes like four against one. Uh but he lost his school, and you can't do that.
Everyone knows that he lost his school. But look, for me, when I saw this, and I think both of you can relate, this is like the epitome of annoying little brother energy. Some 23-year-old kid who's never done anything.
just poking and poking and poking. And I know Chris, you've been there. You've done the poking to Andrew.
That's right. And don't tell me that you put Craig in a couple headlocks in your damn too, right? And he hit him.
Keep it in the Hold on, Chris. But Chris, you're a younger brother, too. I got hit.
That's right. Haraldo hit and got hit. You got hit.
This is That is a different vibe. This is I say mean angry things, but I'm not going to do anything. It's performative.
That's my problem with it, is that I don't think it's organic. I think he's losing his cool because it's okay to do so. But the kid, the Chris, the kid was a dick.
I mean, he really smart, eloquent, had his argument together, and obviously Okay, here's where I'm going to stop for a minute. Haraldo is saying, "Well, Adam Mockler was a dick. " All Adam Mockler did was present facts, and Scott Jennings couldn't handle that because he has no facts.
If you watch the whole segment, and I did a whole other video on it where you can see all of it, Scott Jennings makes a crack about Adam Mockler being up past his bedtime, you know, because he's a child. He made another crack about something else. And then also in the segment there that you see right at the top, he made a rude comment to Adam Oler, which Adam Oler pointed out him being condescending.
This is what Scott Jennings and all of these MAGA creeps that go on to Abby Phillips, Ben Ferguson and Joe Belli isn't quite as bad as the two of them, but Scott Jennings in particular and Ben Ferguson, they make little snide comments the whole time. And of course, anybody who has watched this before, Scott Jennings is known for smirking and making faces at the camera. He will say anybody who's critical at all of the war, "Oh, well, you hate America and you want Iran to win and you want America to lose, blah, blah, blah.
" It's typical bully behavior and bullies can't handle it when anybody pushes back metaphorically, but it's this MAGA mentality of they should be able to say whatever they want, be as snide as they want, as condescending as they want, laugh and make fun of people to their face. And if there's the tiniest bit of push back, then it's clutching pearls. Oh, how dare you?
How dare you do this? I, you know, Scott Jennings is a typical bully, as most of these MAGA people are. They're typical bullies who cry like little boys and girls at the least amount of push back and presented by facts like Adam Mockler did in that interaction.
Adam Mockler kept his cool. So this is not a both sides thing as Chris Cenounu and Heraldo Rivera and Chris Cuomo want to make it out to be. Debated Scott before and he was really being a dick.
I mean it was like shut up you know go get some life. How many different ways do the three of us So you have one of the best broadcasters in history right Mr Mediocre in the middle and Governor Cenounu who's one of the most celebrated uh public officials in his state um period. All of us have at least six ways.
Dusty just said what? My favorite governor ever. Oh, there you go.
And she knows my brother's going to kill her for that, but that's okay. Um, we all have at least six ways to deal with somebody trying to get our goat, right? You would never allow yourself to act that way or the way you would with your brother.
Right? I'm telling you, Scott Jennings was on a debate panel debating with somebody with a completely different viewpoint with him doing nothing but presenting facts as Scott Jennings had been condescending through the whole thing as he always is on Abby Phillips show. And that was not Adam Mockler getting his goat.
That was Adam Mockler debating in a professional way, presenting reality, pushing back against Scott Jennings fantasy that everything's going great with this war. What did Scott Jennings expect? Here's my concern is that what you represent, Chris, is being lost right now.
I believe the majority wants it. I believe the majority wants somebody who shows their character by how they react. Teraldo, you have never meant more to the country than you have, I'd say, in the last seven, eight years with your your perspective, your calm, your poise.
You've seen it all. You've been through it all. Nothing rattles you.
There is something in that that we're missing in moments like this. And they're doing it on purpose, brother. That's my concern, Chris.
What makes it better? It's terrible. No, no, it's terrible.
But it's not going away. I mean, that's that's the most frustrating part is that it's about the clicks. It's about clickbait.
It's about headlines. It's about This is the epitome of populism. And it's even worse when you go to Capitol Hill and you see both sides of the extremes doing it on Capitol Hill.
Congressional hearings are less about what's being discussed and more about the clicks and and the feeds. So, it's bad enough to see it at at 10 p. m.
on CNN. It's awful to see it on Capitol Hill. It's the highest rated show.
I hear that. I I hear that. And I and you know, Governor, I I take you at your word.
You're a very sincere man. But there was a freshness about it. I thought that like that kid never expected that kind of old man to respond in the way Scott Jennings responded and I don't know that Scott knew that he he he didn't premeditate.
I don't think that's true what Heraldo is saying there. I think Adam Mockler knew to expect it because he knows that Scott Jennings is a [ __ ] and a wannabe tough guy and a bully. Adam Mockler has dealt with this clown before and Adam Mockler was ready for it.
that it was just like the kind of thing like now I know Chris in your life Chris Cuomo I know in your life you have been in situations where you have been magnificent in your restraint I mean people don't realize because you sit behind a desk you're a giant of a man I mean you're big you're you're built like you know it wasn't that look at those forearms thanks he's got the sleeves pulled up of a Java man true this this this wasn't that this was just you know uh a kid went one step too far the the eldest statesman says, "Hey," and I don't think he he premeditated, just, you know, had the reaction, you know, get that hand out of my face. And I've said that a million times in my life. Get that effing hand out of my But you wouldn't you wouldn't say it now because you've never seen since now I'm 83 years old.
People are people are killing people. They are shooting people out of political extremism. We are seeing it in a way we have not seen it.
I'm not saying it is uh caused by what we are talking about, but it is correlated to what we are talking about. If you know if the left doesn't want to own it, that's on them. Uh but the extreme talk is manifesting itself against a unique a unique agitator in President Trump.
Okay? And the right, we've seen it for years and we see it in the president. I am worried we are not even close to the worst we're going to see.
Heraldo, that's why I police this stuff. And by the way, I violate my own rule. I violate my own rule.
I know. Um, and I try. You hold you are the you are the epitome of restraint in your years as a as an anchor man now.
Uh, you know, you you flew up the handle as a younger person perhaps, but I remember when I had the brawl, the infamous skin head brawl with the in my studio with the racist skin heads and I they broke my nose and I you know all that. It was all Yeah. I never got more congratulations from the way to go.
Hey, that's it. High five. Way this, you know, next time get and you know, uh, but this this wasn't this was not hateful.
This was an annoyed grown-up with a bratty smart kid. But you know what the difference was, Chris? And I'll give you the last word on this.
Haraldo fought against real Nazis. Now we just call whoever we disagree with Nazis. And [laughter] that's my concern.
It's true. Yeah. It's No, it's out of control.
And look, I I'll go back to the the number one rule in in in when you're in the public sphere. You don't punch down, right? You don't you don't I mean, he he took the bait.
Scott absolutely took the bait from that kid and and forgot that rule. If you don't punch down, he should have just ignored it and moved on. But to your point, it is getting more violent.
It is getting more extreme. The the the um and that's getting normalized and that's not the way it should be. I think I'm different.
I think it gets better over time. I really do. I'm an internal optimist because if I thought differently, then God help us for the next 30 years.
But I am optimistic that over time uh this actually can can get better. I you know we haven't we haven't learned we we invented social media but we don't have the maturity to understand how to use it properly. And I think the hope is that the next generation actually uh develops into that because they actually grew up with it.
Okay. So I'm ending on this Haraldo. He's saying he's going to run.
He's not saying when, but he's saying he's going to run and that he's going to make it better. You just heard it here. Heraldo.
Okay. I don't care about them kissing up to each other. So they bring up the Nazi thing.
Adam Mockler didn't call Scott Jennings a Nazi. He didn't call him any kind of name. Chris Cenounu talks about all the punching down blah blah blah.
Adam Mockler did not take the bait from Scott Jennings. They're doing the bothsiderism thing here that that mainstream media always does. Scott Jennings was a dick as he always is to Adam Mockler throughout that segment.
And Adam Mockler didn't take the bait. He did what Chris Cuomo and Chris Cenounu and Heraldo Rivera are saying that they want. He behaved in a professional manner.
He presented facts. He didn't call Scott Jennings names. He didn't insult him or threaten him.
So, he behaved the way these guys are saying people on TV should. Scott Jennings did not. He did what he always did, what he always does, smirk, be condescending, laugh, look into the camera.
And he was presented with somebody smart who spoke in terms of the reality of what's happening saying America is losing this war and you can't handle that. And that and Adam Mockler was right. Scott Jennings could not handle that because he exists in a world of fantasy that Donald Trump is the greatest president ever.
Donald Trump never does anything wrong. You blame the left for everything. This war is going great.
and he was met with somebody smarter than him, more professional than him, and someone who was able to remain calm while being attacked repeatedly. And like I said before, bullies can't take it. Scott Jennings is a bully or a wannabe bully.
And he got matched up against somebody who wasn't going to be bullied by him, who wasn't afraid of him, who wasn't intimidated by him despite being much younger than him. That's the lesson here. The way to deal with these smug [ __ ] these pricks, these bullies, and wannabe tough guys like Scott Jennings, is to metaphorically hit right back at them, but to present reality, to use facts, and to not get rattled.
And that caused Scott Jennings to melt down. Heraldo Rivera, Chris Cuomo, Chris Cenounu can say all they want about, you know, the lack of decorum on both sides. That's not what happened here.
And the American people saw it. Let me know what you think about all this. Do you agree with the both ciderism from Chris Cuomo, Chris Cenounu, and Heraldo Rivera?
Or are you like me that Adam Mockler was completely right? Scott Jennings was in the wrong. He was doing his shtick that he does night after night and he came up against somebody who wasn't going to put up with that in Adam Mockler.
Let me know in the comments what you think. Make sure to give me a like and subscribe.