Sparks flashed on Cuomo Prime Time as Republican Scott Jennings, former special assistant to President George W. Bush, confronted Chris “Fredo” Cuomo and the Lincoln Project’s Stuart Stevens on the heinous lies that were spewed against Virginia’s governor-elect, Glenn Youngkin (R). Jennings called out the falsehoods and had Cuomo on his heels as he yelled at the CNN host about the hypocrisy in what they demanded from Youngkin.
After his opening monologue where he attacked Virginia parents as being too stupid to understand what Critical Race Theory was, Fredo wanted to know what lessons Jennings thought Republicans learned from their victory.
“I think the lesson for Republicans is – and call me old fashion –but it’s platforms work,” he explained. “Quite literally, the Republicans didn't write a platform in 2020. And this time around in Virginia, Glen Youngkin wrote a platform.”
From there, he called out the sleazy campaign of Democrat Terry McAuliffe and the disgusting antics of the Lincoln Project for the lies they propagated. Jennings explained that it was a masterful strategy by Youngkin to ignore the attacks, forces on the issues, and not let them drag him down into the mud:
And he ran it on it, and he never took the bait of the fundamentally unserious campaign run by the Democrats, which was solely focused on one thing: lie about Glenn Youngkin, trying to turn him into Donald Trump. Stuart was part of it.
It did not work because it wasn’t true. And had Youngkin taken that bait, he would have been drug down into that mire and I think he would have lost. But he stuck to a platform, he won on an issues-based campaign.
“So, the lesson for Republicans: listen to the voters, write a platform, run on issues. And I think the lesson for Democrats is, if you thought you were going to run these midterms all on Trump, you're sorely mistaken,” he added.
That seemed to force Cuomo to address “the Lincoln Project with the stunt with the Charlottesville people,” and he asked Stevens if he and his colleagues “regret what you did at the Lincoln Project, and that approach by Democrats?”
Stevens said they weren’t (and why would they, they’re the group that covered for alleged pedophile John Weaver). He then suggested that Jennings would do exactly the same thing: “What he would have done is gone out and define Glen Youngkin very quickly.” “Define” in this instance was code for ‘make some stuff up.’
“But he could have won this race if he had gone about aggressively defining what the race was about and defining his opponent,” Stevens added, whining about McAuliffe as if he wasn’t also spreading nonsense about Youngkin every day.
A short time later, and Cuomo wanted Jennings to answer for January 6, because that’s what the media thought would keep Republicans from winning elections.
Well, Jennings went on offense hard against the entrapment tactic and started shouting a Cuomo about the hypocrisy of demanding Republicans denounce the violence and then still treating them as if they personally stormed the Capitol (Click “expand”):
JENNINGS: Well, Glenn Youngkin comes along, a conservative Republican with a standard set of Republican ideas to solve problems. And at the same time, says that Joe Biden was a legitimately elected president, he renounced January 6, he had nothing to do with it, he said it was weird and bad. He totally stepped away from all of it –
CUOMO: True.
JENNINGS: -- did not embrace it in any way shape or form. [Cuomo tries to interrupt] And still the Democrats beat him about the head and face. And so, you can’t have it both ways. You cannot demand that the Republicans do what Stuart wants him to do, and then when they do it, claim that they're Donald Trump Jr. anyway, it's not right and it’s not going to work.
Fredo was on his heel and told his gust to lose the “dudgeon” and tried to put former President Trump around Youngkin because of an endorsement. “Donald Trump didn't even go to Virginia. He didn't appear in the state one time,” Jennings shouted, leaving Fredo stammering for a second.
The segment ended moments later after Cuomo tried to lecture Jennings on how Republicans needed to lose with grace; as if the left didn’t cook up a Russian collusion hoax and harp on that for four years.
Chris Cuomo’s ridiculous antics were made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from DIRECTV and Mercedes-Benz. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they fund.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN’s Cuomo Prime Time
November 3, 2021
9:11:23 p.m. Eastern(…)
CHRIS CUOMO: Scott, I start with you. What was the lesson for you as Republicans, and then the takeaway, you believe, for the Democrats?
SCOTT JENNINGS: Well, thanks, Chris. I think the lesson for Republicans is – and call me old fashion –but it’s platforms work.
Quite literally, the Republicans didn't write a platform in 2020. And this time around in Virginia, Glen Youngkin wrote a platform. He had issues: education, quality of life, economy, crime. He wrote down a list of things that he was worried about because he was listening to his voters. He wrote down a list of things that he would do about it. Reforming the DMV. You know, these are things at effect your quality of life.
And he ran it on it, and he never took the bait of the fundamentally unserious campaign run by the Democrats, which was solely focused on one thing: lie about Glenn Youngkin, trying to turn him into Donald Trump. Stuart was part of it.
It did not work because it wasn’t true. And had Youngkin taken that bait, he would have been drug down into that mire and I think he would have lost. But he stuck to a platform, he won on an issues-based campaign.
So, the lesson for Republicans: listen to the voters, write a platform, run on issues. And I think the lesson for Democrats is, if you thought you were going to run these midterms all on Trump, you're sorely mistaken. Because the party is not going to let you get away with it.
CUOMO: Now, throw a little comma in there, which is, you also don't have to give Trump a bear hug every five minutes no matter how obnoxious and terrible what he says is. Let's see if that carries forward as well.
So, Stuart, the main criticism is, it was Terry McAuliffe. Sure, the Lincoln Project with the stunt with the Charlottesville people played into it. But Democrats all over the country are talking about Trump like he was a step away from the White House. Do you guys regret what you did at the Lincoln Project, and that approach by Democrats?
STUART STEVENS: No. Look, I think it's very difficult to look at what happened here and say that somehow the Lincoln Project interfered with a winning Democratic strategy. The problem with Democrats – and had Scott Jennings been running the Democratic campaign – he’s a fantastic campaign manager – he would have known what to do. What he would have done is gone out and define Glen Youngkin very quickly.
(…)
Scott is right when you say that McAuliffe didn't have enough of an agenda. I can't tell you the five things that McAuliffe would have done as governor. But he could have won this race if he had gone about aggressively defining what the race was about and defining his opponent. I mean, it’s just counter politics 101.
(…)
9:17:12 p.m. Eastern
JENNINGS: Well, let me just address this issue in the context of Virginia. You know, Stuart and company have argued that democracy is at stake, and these races should be framed around how serious that issue is. And they've demanded that Republicans embrace that theory.
Well, Glenn Youngkin comes along, a conservative Republican with a standard set of Republican ideas to solve problems. And at the same time, says that Joe Biden was a legitimately elected president, he renounced January 6, he had nothing to do with it, he said it was weird and bad. He totally stepped away from all of it –
CUOMO: True.
JENNINGS: -- did not embrace it in any way shape or form. [Cuomo tries to interrupt] And still the Democrats beat him about the head and face. And so, you can’t have it both ways. You cannot demand that the Republicans do what Stuart wants him to do, and then when they do it, claim that they're Donald Trump Jr. anyway, it's not right and it’s not going to work.
CUOMO: True. True. Alright, true. But you have to take the dudgeon down because the guy took the endorsement. He had Trump talking for him all the time. He said he's going to vote for Trump. So—
JENNINGS: Donald Trump didn't even go to Virginia. He didn't appear in the state one time.
(…)
