Jennings is no tough guy, okay? And he did work for the Bush administration as it [clears throat] 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 Quuomo on his NewsNation show went after far-right MAGA stoogge and self-styled tough guy Scott Jennings after he completely lost it when progressive host Adam Mockler hit him with the facts. We are going to watch clips of Chris Cuomo breaking it all down with Geraldo Rivera and Chris Cenounu.
I have a lot to say about this and I will explain where I think they got it right and where I think they missed the mark. Let's dive 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 I that we are [laughter] 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 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 political name.
I'm not going to 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 Heraldo, 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.
Scott 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 tell you what 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 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 poking to Andrew.
That's right. And don't tell me that you put Craig in a couple headlocks in your game, too. Right.
Yeah. And he'd hit him. You keep it in the Hold on, Chris.
[laughter] 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, Ronaldo, 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.
This is exactly where I have to disagree with Geraldo. He says Adam Mockler was out of line, but all Adam did was present facts, and Scott Jennings simply could not handle it because he did not have any facts on his side. If you watch the full segment, and I covered the entire thing in another video, you can clearly see Scott Jennings taking cheap shots from the very beginning.
He joked about Adam being up past his bedtime because of his age, made another sarcastic remark. And even at the start of the clip, you can see him being openly rude and condescending, which Adam immediately called out. That is what Scott Jennings does.
And honestly, it is what so many of these MAGA figures do whenever they appear on Abby Phillips show. Ben Ferguson is just as guilty. And while Joe Burelli is usually a little less aggressive, Scott Jennings and Ben Ferguson are especially bad about throwing out constant little insults.
Anyone who has watched Scott before knows the routine. He smirks, rolls his eyes, makes faces at the camera, and acts like he has already won before the debate even begins. If anyone dares criticize the war, he immediately jumps to accusing them of hating America, wanting Iran to win, or rooting against the United States.
It is classic bully behavior. Bullies love dishing it out. But the second someone pushes back, especially with actual facts, they completely fall apart.
That is the MAGA mindset in a nutshell. They think they should be able to mock people, insult them, laugh in their faces, and act as condescending as they want. But the moment someone responds with even a little resistance, suddenly they act outraged and offended.
Scott Jennings is the perfect example of that. Like so many in MAGA, he plays the tough guy right up until someone stands up to him and then the whining starts. Adam Mockler, on the other hand, stayed calm, stayed focused, and stuck to the facts the entire time.
So, no, this was not a both sides situation, no matter how much Chris Cenounu, Geraldo Rivera, or Chris Cuomo tried to frame it that way. Baited 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? Scott Jennings was on a debate panel with someone who had a completely different point of view.
And that person did exactly what you were supposed to do in a debate, present facts. Meanwhile, Scott Jennings spent the entire segment doing what he always does on Abby Phillips show, acting smug, condescending, and talking down to everyone around him. Adam Mockler was not trying to get under Scott Jennings's skin.
He was simply debating professionally, laying out the facts and pushing back against Scott Jennings's fantasy that everything is going perfectly in this war. Honestly, what exactly did Scott Jennings expect was going to happen? 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 in and the feed.
So, it's bad enough to see it 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 premed. I don't think what Haraldo is saying there is accurate.
I think Adam Mockler already knew what to expect because he is familiar with Scott Jennings and knows the kind of condescending bullyike style he often brings to these panels. Adam Mockler has dealt with this type of behavior before and was clearly prepared for it. He wasn't thrown off for reacting emotionally.
He was ready to engage and push back. 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. For God's sakes, he's got the sleeves pulled up [laughter] of a Java man.
Yeah, it's all true. This this this wasn't that. This was just, you know, uh a kid went one step too far.
The the elder 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 face.
But you wouldn't you wouldn't say it now because you've never seen the Now I'm 83 years old. 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, you 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 I never got more congratulations from the way to go.
Hey, that's it. High five. Way this next time you 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. [laughter] And 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 of you don't punch down.
they 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 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 cuz they actually grew up with it. Okay, so I'm ending on this.
Heraldo, he's saying he's going to run. He's not saying when. I really do not care about all the mutual praise they were giving each other there.
They brought up the Nazi comment, but Adam Mockler never called Scott Jennings a Nazi, and he never resorted to name calling at all. Chris Cenounu started talking about punching down and all the usual talking points, but Adam did not fall for Scott Jennings bait. This is that classic mainstream media both sides routine, and it completely misses what actually happened.
Scott Jennings was rude, smug, and condescending throughout the entire segment, just like he always is whenever he appears on Abby Phillips show. Adam Mockler, on the other hand, stayed disciplined. He did exactly what Chris Cuomo, Chris Cenounu, and Heraldo Rivera claim they want to see on television.
He remained professional, presented facts, and never stooped to Scott's level. He did not insult him, threaten him, or call him names. Scott Jennings, meanwhile, did exactly what he always does.
He smirked, laughed, looked into the camera, and acted condescending. Then he found himself debating someone sharp, well-prepared, and grounded in reality, someone willing to plainly state that America is losing this war and that Scott could not handle hearing it. Adam Mockler was absolutely right and Scott Jennings could not deal with it because he lives in a fantasy world where Donald Trump can do no wrong, where every failure is somehow the left's fault, and where this war is supposedly going perfectly.
Instead, he was matched up against someone smarter, more composed, and far more professional. Someone who stayed calm even while being repeatedly attacked. That is the thing about bullies.
They can dish it out, but they cannot take it. Scott Jennings loves playing the tough guy, but when he faced someone who would not be intimidated, someone much younger who refused to back down, he completely unraveled. That is the real lesson here.
The way to handle smug bullies and self-styled tough guys like Scott Jennings is to push back with facts, stay grounded in reality, and never let them rattle you. That is exactly what Adam Mockler did, and it sent Scott Jennings into a meltdown. Heraldo Rivera, Chris Cuomo, and Chris Cenounu can talk all they want about decorum on both sides, but that simply is not what happened here, and viewers could see that for themselves.
Let me know what you think. Do you agree with Chris Cuomo, Chris Cenunu, and Heraldo Rivera's both sides take? Or do you see it the way I do that Adam Mockler was completely in the right while Scott Jennings was doing the same old act until he finally ran into someone who would not tolerate it?
But let me know your thoughts in the comments.
