Conservative CNN commentator Scott Jennings tore into prominent liberals on Monday who have pivoted to a more sober tone about President-elect Donald Trump after spending years lambasting him as a fascist threat to democracy.
Following news that Trump held a meeting with MSNBC co-hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough this week, and Trump’s cordial summit with President Biden at the White House last week, Jennings remarked on the about-face, considering both the pundits and president have consistently labeled him a fascist threat.
“I‘m amazed. I did not expect Hitler to get so many meeting requests, first from Joe Biden, now from Mika and Joe,” Jennings told a panel on “CNN NewsNight” Monday evening.
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CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings called out prominent Trump critics for having friendly meetings with the president-elect after calling him Hitler for years.
“It‘s amazing that literal Hitler is getting all these meeting requests,” he added with a wry smile on his face. He went on to say these examples of diplomacy with Trump prove that prominent liberals defrauded Democratic voters with their rhetoric on Trump being a dictator, including on “Morning Joe.”
“And what it tells me, professor,” he said to fellow panelist Jeff Jarvis, “is that all the rhetoric that came from the left, from the Democrats, from the White House, from Kamala Harris and everyone else before the election, all of the rhetoric – the fascism, the Hitler, the Nazi rally – it was all a bunch of BS. They didn‘t mean any of it.”
“And if I were in the Democrat sort-of rabble‘s shoes, I would be looking at all my leaders and going, ‘Did you just BS me for an entire six weeks before the election?’”
The MSNBC “Morning Joe” co-hosts revealed on Monday that they met with Trump in Mar-a-Lago last week, their first time seeing him face-to-face in seven years after their relationship collapsed when Trump first took office.
Both pundits, who are among Trump’s harshest media critics, said the meeting was an important opportunity for those who disagree to speak with each other, and a way to “restart communications.” They also responded to critics blasting them for going through with it, which includes conservatives who labeled them phonies to liberals who said they were traitors to the cause.
MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough has been one of former President Trump’s harshest critics. The two go back years and they have had at times a friendly relationship. (MSNBC/Screenshot)
“Joe and I realized it’s time to do something different, and that starts with not only talking about Donald Trump, but also talking with him,” Brzezinksi said. Scarborough added, “Don’t be mistaken. We’re not here to defend or normalize Donald Trump. We’re here to report on him and to hopefully provide you insights that are going to better equip all of us in understanding these deeply unsettling times.”
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Jarvis, who also authored the book “The Gutenberg Parenthesis,” replied to Jennings with his insistence that Trump is in fact a fascist and a totalitarian who threatens America and that those liberals that are now making nice with him are failing to hold him accountable.
“I just reread Hannah Arendt‘s ‘The Origins of Totalitarianism,’ and I cannot tell you how relevant it is to today. What has gone on in totalitarian regimes before is what is happening in this country right now. It is fascism. His generals called him fascist. Joe Scarborough called him fascist,” Jarvis declared.
He added, “And now the fascist is in charge, and it is journalism‘s job to cover it that way, not to back off and say, ‘Okay, well that‘s it, we lost. Let the fascism happen.’”
Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky argued that the liberals in question do believe Trump’s a fascist but care more about boosting their careers than confronting him at this point.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump attends the America First Policy Institute Gala held at Mar-a-Lago on November 14, 2024 in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump has been announcing a number of nominees to fill out his upcoming administration. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) ( Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
“It says a lot more actually, Scott, about them than it does about their beliefs, because they believe it, they just don‘t care because they believe in their own careers more,” she said. “And that’s the part that’s disgusting to me.”
Fox News Digital’s David Rutz and Hanna Panreck contributed to this report.
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