On CNN's State of the Union on Sunday, they tried to ask CNN contributor Scott Jennings about the scuttlebutt that he could be the next White House Press Secretary, since this is the last week for Karoline Leavitt.
The show airs Sunday at 9 am Eastern time and is repeated at noon. But the 9 am show suffered technical difficulties, apparently necessitating that Bash and her panel be there live again for the noon presentation, and Jennings shined in both sessions.
On the first show, Bash started her panel segment by playing a clip of Trump being asked about Jennings for the job, and saying, "Scott Jennings is good." Jennings responded that he thought Trump was good, and added that he didn't know what was going to happen and had nothing to say about it.
In the relatively low key panel discussion that followed, Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) and Jennings disagreed more than once, but the conversations remained calm and respectful, as you can see from the video below.
On the noon show, where CNN's Maria Cardona replaced Dingell, the panel exchanges heated up. Bash began by again mentioning Jennings possible opportunity, but only in passing. Later, Cardona and Jennings would face off, after she repeated the usual Democrat talking points on Iran, the building of the White House ballroom, and affordability.
CARDONA: All of those things are the things that Democrats are going to continue to focus on, have focused on, and I think have helped them in terms of where they are in the midterm elections.
JENNINGS,: I opened up my social media algorithm this morning, Maria, to find that the principal spokesperson for the Democratic Party, Hasan Piker, was leading a rally last night, reading a rally celebrate...
CARDONA: Oh, come on, Scott. You know that's not true.
JENNINGS: ... to celebrate the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
CARDONA: You know that's not true.
JENNINGS: So, I love the recitation of the talking points. All of the energy in your party is behind a bunch of violent socialists who have taken over the messaging operation of the Democratic Party.
What Jennings was referring to did in fact happen, as reported by Fox News, Piker sang a mocking, "We Are Charlie Kirk" song, at a live podcast show. Jennings continued.
JENNINGS: Midterms are historically good for the party out of power. I wonder if Democrats are squandering their opportunity because they have outsourced all of their energy and messaging to people who want to fundamentally rip out the United States of America root and branch.
CARDONA: That message reeks of desperation on behalf of Republicans.
JENNINGS: Pick it up. Take a look at it. Are you defending it? Defend it. Defend it.
CARDONA: The midterm elections are just completely not going to be in their favor.
JENNINGS: Defend it. She won't.
CARDONA: Because you look at the generic ballot, Democrats are ahead. You look at where Americans think which party is going to handle the economy better, Democrats are winning on that.
And, Scott, I appreciate that you're trying to smear every single Democrat with some of the craziness that you're talking about.
JENNINGS: I'm not smearing them. They're smearing themselves by keeping these violent thugs around.
Later, Jennings would bring up Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, who is Jewish, who has said she will not attend the Michigan Democratic Party’s nominating convention with her colleagues this Saturday because she does not feel safe to be there.
JENNINGS: Maria, the Democrat Attorney General of Michigan can't even go to your party's nominating convention because she fears for her safety from Abdul El-Sayed's supporters. Do you have any response to that? I mean, that's not me -- that's not me smearing your party. That's your own party crying out for safety from their own people.
BASH: You go. And then I want to ask a Democrat from Michigan. (LAUGHTER)
CARDONA: And -- yes, and I will say he has more to say about this, but what I will say is, again, Scott, that messaging is because Republicans understand how much trouble they are in...JENNINGS: Sorry, Dana, Maria doesn't care about your safety. Sorry, Dana.
Later CNN's Jamal Simmons equated the rise of anti-Semitism in the country with Islamophobia, and went after Jennings for his criticism of El-Sayed as some kind of "ethnic or religious invocation."
SIMMONS: You got a lot of things you can go after Abdul El-Sayed about. I think going after his religion should not be one of them.
JENNINGS: It's not going after his religion. It's going after his association...
SIMMONS: You haven't seen the reports? You haven't seen the reports of people talking about...
JENNINGS: Let me respond. You asked me. Let me respond.... It's going after his association with people who say -- quote -- "I want to wipe my A-S-S with the U.S. Constitution," and so on and so forth. That has nothing to do with religion.
Jennings was talking about a remark reportedly made by Hasan Piker.
So the Democrats facing off against Jennings claim it's somehow off the table to address the controversies by the Mamdani faction of their party. They might wish he took a White House job and stopped ruining their talking points on CNN.
