CNN Stacks 4 Democrats Against Scott Jennings—and It Backfires Spectacularly

One New York Times reporter tried to frame Republicans as the ‘party of taking things away.’ But Jennings shut her down with a response she didn't see coming.

Scott Jennings didn’t hold back Wednesday when he faced off against an entire CNN panel stacked with Democrats.

It was nothing short of a reckoning.

At one point, a New York Times reporter tried to brand Republicans as the “party of taking things away,” pointing to issues like healthcare. Jennings wasn’t having it.

“My rebuttal to that would be Democrats have become the party of EXPLODING government benefit programs… and then saying, ‘Gee whiz, now people are trying to take things away.’”

If you want to see political debate at its sharpest, check out all four of his takedowns. This was Jennings in peak form.

Scott Jennings didn’t bother with pleasantries before setting off fireworks on CNN’s panel.

He went straight for Senator Thom Tillis, brushing aside Tillis’s criticism of the GOP’s “Big Beautiful Bill” as not just misguided but flat-out politically clueless.

“I think he’s wrong,” Jennings said coolly. “And most—virtually every Republican thinks he’s wrong.”

“There’s nothing politically devastating about trying to bar 1.4 million illegal aliens from getting welfare,” he argued.

“There’s nothing politically devastating about encouraging 4.8 million people who choose not to work to try to work a little in order to get government benefits.”

Jennings also reminded the panel that this wasn’t some brutal cost-cutting plan. The bill included a $50 billion fund for rural hospitals—an issue Tillis himself had flagged as a priority.

“So I don’t agree with his [Tillis’s] political analysis, nor does virtually every other Republican who helped to craft and ultimately pass this bill,” Jennings concluded.

“And I think Republicans ought to lean into these things: work requirements are good. Encouraging work instead of welfare is a good thing, and it will work in campaigns.”

It didn’t take long for the tension to spike on the panel.

Axios reporter Alex Thompson tried to corner Scott Jennings with what he thought was a classic “gotcha” moment, pointing out that the bill’s Medicaid changes wouldn’t even take effect until after the midterms.

“You say, Republicans should lean in, but most of these Medicaid cuts don’t come until after the midterms. Why is that?” Thompson pressed.

“Well, I mean, states run the Medicaid program,” Jennings replied. “I do think it’s reasonable to give them time to prepare to enact changes to the program.”

“But it doesn’t matter, because Democrats are obviously going to go all in on this hysteria campaign,” Jennings warned.

And he offered this pointed advice to his party:

“And I’m telling you as a debating point, if Democrats want to run on giving Medicaid to illegal aliens and people who won’t work or choose not to work, Republicans have a counter-message that will work if they are willing to courageously defend it.”

Congressman Glenn Ivey joined the debate and went after Republicans hard, accusing them of smearing working-class families as lazy freeloaders at a time when many are struggling just to keep the lights on.

“I was going to say, I mean, you’re putting your Republican colleagues of mine in the position of having to declare people to be deadbeats at the time when they are working two jobs, they are doing everything they can to make ends meet,” Ivey said.

“And you guys are going to take the rug out from under them, and they’re not going to be happy. They’re going to be rightly, I think, upset about it.”

Jennings jumped in before Ivey could even finish, shaking his head in disagreement.

“You guys are conflating two populations, and it’s not my conjecture. Just ask the CBO. Everybody likes to cite the CBO, the CBO’s own numbers,” he countered.

That’s when CNN’s Kasie Hunt tried to throw him off with a teasing jab: “Except you, typically.” Jennings added.

“Well, I’m going to cite them because they tend to be popular, at least in here.”

Jennings then laid out the numbers he said proved his point.

“4.8 million people on Medicaid who choose not to work. That’s not my going out and counting. That’s the CBO. 1.4 million illegal aliens.”

He argued Republicans could absolutely sell these distinctions—if they were willing to speak plainly about them.

“So there is a population that chooses not to work that maybe should try a little,” he added. “And the people you cite are not going to lose their benefits.”

But the conversation was just warming up.

New York Times reporter Lulu Garcia-Navarro took her turn challenging the Republican position, arguing their messaging was boxing them in as the “party of taking things away.”

“It is much easier to run on a message of someone took something away from you than it is to say, no, actually, we didn’t take it away. Some certain populations are undeserving, certain populations, you know, aren’t actually there to get it,” she argued.

“I hear your analysis, and it’s a valid debating point,” Jennings acknowledged. But he wasn’t about to let Democrats off the hook.

“My rebuttal to that would be Democrats have become the party of EXPLODING government benefit programs during Covid, vastly expanding Medicaid beyond what it was ever intended to do, and then saying, ‘Gee whiz, now people are trying to take things away.’”

Garcia-Navarro shot back. “Do you think people like healthcare, though? Do you think people like healthcare?” she pressed.

Jennings delivered a masterful reply.

“I think they like healthcare, I don’t think they like the system we live under, which is not a Republican system,” he countered. “It’s Obamacare! Which exploded premiums and has vastly expanded the welfare state.”

By the end of the exchange, Lulu Garcia-Navarro tried to bring the conversation back to a universal value—something just about everyone could agree on: the idea that anyone should have access to medical care.

“But what I’m saying is most people do believe that there should be a basic ability to go to a hospital and get some care,” she said.

“I agree,” Jennings replied, “but I think most people also believe that people should not be able to sit and do nothing and receive government benefits, or be in the country illegally and receive government benefits.”

“An attempt to work is a good thing,” he added.

“And the Republican ethos is encouraging work. The Democratic ethos is encouraging government dependence,” Jennings said.

“That’s the debate!” he said firmly, knowing it was a mic-drop moment.

And just like that, the 4-on-1 debate ended in a unanimous victory for Jennings.

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