CNN’s Scott Jennings Gets Rounded On by Ana Navarro & Abby Phillip

Scott Jennings took some hits from fellow panelists on the Wednesday episode of CNN NewsNight. As the conservative commentator defended Donald Trump, host Abby Phillip, along with Ana Navarro, David Hogg, and more, hit back at him.

During a conversation about Trump’s contentious relationship with Pope Leo XIV, Navarro explained, “It’s an opportunity for the President of the United States to cultivate an alliance with the leader of the Catholic Church and other foreign leaders, frankly, because what he’s done by taking on the pope is not just antagonize Catholics, he’s antagonized people like his ally, the Prime Minister of Italy, where The Vatican is…”

Navarro called Trump “irrational” for his late-night social media posts about the subject, to which Jennings fired back, “It’s not irrational to stand up to Iranians.” The View cohost didn’t back down, though, firing back, “It’s irrational to be posting pictures of himself as Jesus.”

That’s when Hogg weighed in to ask, “Is it rational to threaten a genocide of 90 million people? Is that rational, Scott? To threaten a genocide of 90 million people on Easter Sunday?”

Jennings shook his head and insisted, “That didn’t happen,” which is when Phillip had to step in as moderator to make sure Jennings and viewers knew what Hogg was referring to.

“He’s referring to Trump saying that ‘an entire civilization may die tonight.’ He said that,” Phillip confirmed. “A lot of people read that as him threatening to wipe out an entire civilization. So it does seem like the pop would actually be rational to respond to that and say, ‘Hey, we shouldn’t be in the business of war.’ And I think you’re right, I’m sure the pope is happy there is a ceasefire, but he was responding to Trump waging a war. Does he not have a right to respond to that?”

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Jennings agreed that the pope “has a right to respond to whatever he wants,” but insisted, “We’re waging war against people who have been waging war against us for nearly 50 years. The moment that we’re in is special because we’ve got this regime on its knees economically, which has China. That’s a problem for them, as well. We’ve got a moment here. We can change something and change a situation that’s been bad for tens of millions of people going on five decades now. By the way, a lot of politicians in America disagree with the pope.”

CNN NewsNight, Weeknights, 10/9c, CNN