It’s rare for CNN liberal, former Republican, and turncoat Max Boot to be challenged as a global affairs analyst on the Jeffrey Zucker-led circus. So when he met his match on Monday’s CNN Tonight in the form of political commentator Scott Jennings during a discussion about the Mississippi Senate runoff, Boot was on a verge of an emotional breakdown.
Everything seemed fine at the start with Jennings asserting that Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith would win against Democrat Mike Espy in a Trump state even though she’s “said some things that were not great and she didn't handle the apologies well.”
Host Don Lemon started turning up the temperature by implicitly calling Hyde-Smith a racist, asking Jennings if he was “surprised” that Trump would be “openly supporting someone who has made those comments without any good explanation except for the obvious as to why she made them.” Jennings responded that it didn’t because Trump doesn’t want to see the seat flip against him and the GOP.
Suddenly, Boot burst out like an angry Kool-Aid man, demanding that he be allowed to “jump in here” because “[w]e've had these kinds of discussions before where you offer this kind of values-neutral horse race analysis of what should be extremely disturbing to anybody.”
Jennings decided that this wouldn’t be a typical CNN segment in which Boot gets softballs and can ramble on about how everyone around him right-of-center is so immoral for not being as supposedly principled as him.
While Boot started shouting back that he be allowed to continue speaking as his face grew red and his voice seemed on the verge of cracking, Jennings threw it back:
Hey, Max, hey, brother, listen, brother, I don't answer to you, okay? We come on these shows and you — and you jump all over me. I don't answer to you Max Boot. You left the Republican Party. I don't answer to you. I talk to Don Lemon. I don’t answer to you.
When an emotional Boot wondered if Jennings thought it was his show instead of Lemon’s, Jennings promptly replied: “You interrupted me. So, I'm going to interrupt you back. Jerk.”
Lemon chided Jennings for calling Boot a “jerk” as “there’s no need to call names here” even though Lemon does plenty of that himself.
Boot again mounted his high horse but quickly fell off due to his severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome and Jennings was ready to resume the tussling (click “expand”):
BOOT: Okay, I’ve been on with Scott before and we’ve discussed the kind of appalling — I’ve been on with Scott before —
JENNINGS: He does this to me. Don, we get on these shows and Max interrupts me —
BOOT: — you’re not letting me get in a word edgewise, Scott, okay?
JENNINGS: — and he calls me amoral —
BOOT: Is this your show, Scott?
JENNINGS: — and I am a political analyst. I’m not amoral.
BOOT: Because I cannot get a word in edgewise.
JENNINGS: I’m telling you what’s happening.
LEMON: Let him — let him make his point.
BOOT: No, Scott, okay? You’re trying to filibuster because you're embarrassed by what I'm going to say, which is that you engage in this amoral —
JENNINGS: No, I'm embarrassed to be here with you, Max. I'm embarrassed to sit here with you and with —
BOOT: — you’re not letting me finish, Scott, okay? You let me get a word in edgewise.
JENNINGS: — your sanctimonious bull crap. That is what I'm embarrassed about.
BOOT: Okay. I'm embarrassed by your filibuster and I'm embarrassed by the fact that you will not call out this blatant racism on the part of Cindy Hyde-Smith and Donald Trump. You offer this kind of values-neutral, horse race analysis and you refuse to condemn the bigotry of the Republican Party, the Party of Lincoln. This is a disgrace to what the Republican Party has stood for so much of its history.
BOOT: But he’s not doing it now, Don. He is not doing it now.
TURNER: There — there it is.
BOOT: He’s offering an analysis of why these appeals to prejudice will be successful politically.
To Lemon’s credit, he noted that Jennings “does condemn bigotry and he does criticize the President at times on this show.” One example was Jennings’s superb comments on AC360 in 2017 days after the deadly neo-Nazi gathering in Charlottesville. It’s worth a read.
After former Ohio Democratic state Senator Nina Turner was able to speak for awhile, Lemon sided with Boot by demanding Jennings answer this: “In his piece today Max basically said that the GOP is now the party of neo-Confederates. Does he have a point, Scott? Is your party now the Party of neo-Confederates?”
Jennings vehemently disagreed, emphasizing that he’s “proud to be in the Party of Abraham Lincoln” and “regret[s] it deeply when our candidates and our people say things that are sensitive on race issues.”
Boot decided to interrupt part way through: “Oh, please. Please. This is not the Party of Abraham Lincoln.”
Jennings replied with some resignation considering Boot’s vainglorious behavior (click “expand”):
JENNINGS: I told you — you know what, Max? Why don't you just go ahead, brother? Because obviously what you — what you have to say is much more important than what I have to say. Why don't you just go ahead, man? Just go ahead.
BOOT: Why don't you — why don’t you —
JENNINGS: Go on. Go on.
BOOT: — condemn Cindy Hyde-Smith, Scott? And then we'll talk. Condemn him — condemn Cindy Hyde-Smith and condemn Donald Trump for his racist tactics. I'd like to hear you do that.
To see the relevant transcript from November 26's CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, click “expand.”
CNN Tonight with Don Lemon
November 26, 2018
11:20 p.m. EasternSCOTT JENNINGS: I think Hyde-Smith is going to win. I think she said some things that were not great and she didn't handle the apologies well. It strikes me that based on the general election results and based on the fact that I've not seen any evidence or public polling that tells me this race has tightened that it's more likely than not that a Republican is going to win this election, because it's a nationalized election and the people of Mississippi like Donald Trump’s agenda. They’re more likely to send a Senator to Washington to support his agenda, so my presumption is this race is going to be less about what Hyde-Smith has not done well on the campaign trail and more about whether they’re just going to continue to support the Republican agenda and the Trump agenda in Washington.
LEMON: Are you surprised, though, Scott, in all honesty that you'd have a President of the United States and a President openly supporting someone who has made those comments without any good explanation except for the obvious as to why she made them?
JENNINGS: No. I mean, he is a Republican President. He wants a Republican Senator. It would be a huge embarrassment for his Party to lose this seat. And he loves the campaign. So I'm not at all surprised he is in Mississippi before the election.
MAX BOOT: Scott, Scott —
NINA TURNER: Don —
BOOT: — Scott, can I just jump in —
TURNER: — Don —
BOOT: — because we’ve had these kinds of —
LEMON: One at a time. Go ahead, Max.
BOOT: — Scott, can I just jump in here. We've had these kinds of discussions before where you offer this kind of values-neutral horse race analysis of what should be extremely disturbing —
JENNINGS: Hey, Max, hey, brother, listen, brother, I don't answer to you, okay?
BOOT: — to anybody. Let me finish my comment, Scott.
JENNINGS: We come on these shows and you — and you jump all over me.
BOOT: You had your chance. Let me finish my comment, Scott.
LEMON: One — one at a time.
JENNINGS: I don't answer to you Max Boot. You left the Republican Party. I don't answer to you. I talk to Don Lemon. I don’t answer to you.
BOOT: Can I please make my comment, Scott? Is this your show or can I make a comment too here?
JENNINGS: You interrupted me. So, I'm going to interrupt you back. Jerk.
LEMON: Let him finish. Let him finish. Go ahead, Scott. Go ahead, Max. Sorry. Go ahead and there's no need to call names here. Come on, Scott. You don't have to call him jerk.
BOOT: Okay, I’ve been on with Scott before and we’ve discussed the kind of appalling — I’ve been on with Scott before —
JENNINGS: He does this to me. Don, we get on these shows and Max interrupts me —
BOOT: — you’re not letting me get in a word edgewise, Scott, okay?
JENNINGS: — and he calls me amoral —
BOOT: Is this your show, Scott?
JENNINGS: — and I am a political analyst. I’m not amoral.
BOOT: Because I cannot get a word in edgewise.
JENNINGS: I’m telling you what’s happening.
LEMON: Let him — let him make his point.
BOOT: No, Scott, okay? You’re trying to filibuster because you're embarrassed by what I'm going to say, which is that you engage in this amoral —
JENNINGS: No, I'm embarrassed to be here with you, Max. I'm embarrassed to sit here with you and with —
BOOT: — you’re not letting me finish, Scott, okay? You let me get a word in edgewise.
JENNINGS: — your sanctimonious bull crap. That is what I'm embarrassed about.
BOOT: Okay. I'm embarrassed by your filibuster and I'm embarrassed by the fact that you will not call out this blatant racism on the part of Cindy Hyde-Smith and Donald Trump. You offer this kind of values-neutral, horse race analysis and you refuse to condemn the bigotry of the Republican Party, the Party of Lincoln. This is a disgrace to what the Republican Party has stood for so much of its history.
LEMON: Well, Scott has come out —
TURNER: There it is, Don.
LEMON: — Scott, I've got to say — Scott, I've got to say Scott does condemn bigotry and he does criticize the President at times on this show, but go on, Nina.
BOOT: But he’s not doing it now, Don. He is not doing it now.
TURNER: There — there it is.
BOOT: He’s offering an analysis of why these appeals to prejudice will be successful politically.
LEMON: Okay, Nina, go on.
NINA TURNER: This — this win at any cost is the problem in America right now. When somebody in your Party, in your — if they're wrong, they're just flat out wrong and this Senator is wrong all day long, 24/7, 365. The woman did not even — excuse me. The Senator did not even apologize and to continue to make excuses for her makes no sense. Mississippi is going to have a day of reckoning tomorrow and unfortunately, Scott is probably right. They probably are going to re-elect her for the reasons that he just named and you have these high-level Republicans who continue to support her. Not one of them have called her out. So my message to America is that we cannot be so tied up to who your party is when people are wrong and they’re upholding bigotry and just flat out racism? We’ve got to call people out. She should not be re-elected tomorrow, but shamefully, she just might be re-elected tomorrow. Welcome to Mississippi, USA.
LEMON: Well, you know, and — and I know that Scott, you’re offering analysis and strategy, but my original question was more of a personal. Do you think it's this kind of person — you're not a voter in Mississippi so maybe your answer is that’s not for me to decide, but listen, I want to hear — here is what President Trump said tonight about Mike Espy, the black man running against Hyde-Pierce. Watch this.
TRUMP: Cindy's far left opponent, he’s far left, oh, he is out there — how does he fit in with Mississippi? Just explain — I can go over this, but how does he fit in?
LEMON: How does he fit in with Mississippi? What is he talking about? I don’t know.
TURNER: Oh, my god, Don. I would rather for him to be far left than for a racist. That really is what this is coming down to. We can't sugar-coat this kind of stuff and the Republican Party should be ashamed of itself and if they were, Don, they would disavow this woman and just say you know what, let the Democrat win. We just can't even have this and you want to talk about the fact they only get eight percent of the African-American vote. This is one of the reasons why and everybody, whether they're — because this is not just the black people's burden. So I don't want to hear no smack from Democrats about how the black community have to come out and save this state in the same way we saved Alabama from an alleged pedophile. White America needs to stand up and call this out, and this should not be about political affiliation. This is about moral affiliation.
LEMON: I got a lot of —
TURNER: This woman should not serve.
LEMON: — I’ve got a lot of show to get to, but listen, in his piece today Max basically said that the GOP is now the party of neo-Confederates. Does he have a point, Scott? Is your party now the Party of neo-Confederates?
JENNINGS: No, I strongly disagree with that. I’m proud to be in the Party of Abraham Lincoln. I regret it deeply when our candidates and our people —
BOOT: Oh, please. Please. This is not the Party of Abraham Lincoln.
JENNINGS: — say things that are sensitive on race issues.
LEMON: Let him finish.
BOOT: This is the Party of Donald Trump.
JENNINGS: I told you — you know what, Max? Why don't you just go ahead, brother? Because obviously what you — what you have to say is much more important than what I have to say. Why don't you just go ahead, man? Just go ahead.
BOOT: Why don't you — why don’t you —
JENNINGS: Go on. Go on.
BOOT: — condemn Cindy Hyde-Smith, Scott? And then we'll talk. Condemn him — condemn Cindy Hyde-Smith and condemn Donald Trump for his racist tactics. I'd like to hear you do that.
LEMON: OK.
JENNINGS: No, please. Go on.
LEMON: Thank you all. I appreciate it.
BOOT: You're not doing it, Scott.
