CNN’s post-Biden speech analysis was decidedly much less sycophantic than MSNBC’s, by virtue of the fact that they had an actual conservative on the panel: Scott Jennings, who wasted absolutely no time laying waste both to Biden’s speech, and to his legacy.
Watch as Jake Tapper asks Jennings whether there was anything in the speech he liked, and get an earful:
.@ScottJenningsKY BURIES the Biden farewell: "When I watch this tonight, I remain astonished that (Biden), his family, and other people around him thought he could ever run for another term." pic.twitter.com/gBfXuNVZip
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) January 16, 2025
JAKE TAPPER: And, Scott, you've been rather unrelenting in your criticism of outgoing President Biden. What did you think of the speech? Was there anything you liked?
SCOTT JENNINGS: No. Not really. I think the way he’s leaving office has been, frankly, pretty terrible. He’s going to be remembered for a few things, but politically, it’s mostly for, when he was Vice President, he and Obama sort of ushering in the Trump era initially and then, as he’s leaving office as President, bringing back Trump and Trumpism stronger and more popular than ever. Today, Biden has, like, a 61% disapproval, and Trump is over a 50% approval and more popular in his ideology, is more popular than it’s ever been. If everything you say is true, the Democrats should have had no trouble getting reelected in this election. And yet, they were…they were…
ASHLEY ETIENNE: (CROSSTALK)...I think it’s an issue of a communications failure… (CROSSTALK)
JENNINGS: I know. And for Democrats, it’s always been about communication and no introspection about the policies that led to him leaving office as one of the most unpopular presidents. When I watched this tonight, I remain astonished that he, his family, and other people around him thought he could ever run for another term. I mean, there’s no way he could serve another six months, let alone another four years. The fact that they pursued that farce for as long as they did to me, remains one of the most astonishing things about this term.
This was a brutal recap in the midst of a fawning (mostly by former Kamala Harris aide Ashley Etienne) attempt to rewrite history. The frame of Biden’s legacy as having twice paved the way for Trump and Trumpism is one we won’t often hear in the media. Instead, viewers will mostly be treated to the Resistance-y “oligarchy” narrative.
A bit later on, Etienne got wrecked for trying to frame Biden’s lamentation about the decline of trust in the media by saying Trump lies:
CNN’s @ScottJenningsKY schools former Kamala aide Ashley Etienne for praising Biden lamenting the decline of trust in the media and then hurling disproven lies about Donald Trump: “Has Joe Biden, Kamala Harris or Karine Jean-Pierre ever lied?...Your speech is about the truth and… pic.twitter.com/pgspP7JK7w
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 16, 2025
JENNINGS: Has Joe Biden, Kamala Harris or Karine Jean-Pierre ever lied?
ETIENNE: I don’t know. What are you talking about? I know where you’re going with this, but that’s not the point. You know, Donald Trump stands at the podium every day and delivers lies.
JENNINGS: Your speech is- your speech is about the truth and one thing about Biden that has always vexed Republicans is that he spends a lot of time talking about him being the center of truth and the restoration of the soul of the nation and yet, he and his people spend a heck of a lot of time undermining that very talking point up to and including this year with the massive cover up of his own condition. And so, I just- I just…
ETIENNE: Scott, how about Trump lied to the American people during covid?
JENNINGS: About what?
ETIENNE: How about… I mean- drink bleach, right? I can go on and on…
JENNNINGS: Debunked. Didn’t happen.
ETIENNE: That it’s not as bad as the flu.
JENNINGS: Debunked.
ETIENNE: I mean, all of those things and the reality is…
JENNINGS: You’re doing it right now.
ETIENNE: 500,000 people lost their lives because the president wasn’t honest with the country about the dangers of covid.
JENNINGS: I don’t understand. Are you saying the virus was listening to Donald Trump?
ETIENNE: My point is- my point is that lies have consequences. And that is-
JENNINGS: I just want to make sure I understand that your position is, is that Donald Trump's words induced the virus to kill people?
ETIENNE: No. What Donald Trump’s words did was prevented people from protecting themselves…
JENNINGS: C’mon.
ETIENNE: And their neighbors and 500,000 people lost their lives. That was my point. More importantly, because of his lies, he didn’t create an infrastructure from the governors all the way down…
JENNINGS: He gave you the vaccine.
ETIENNE: …to get shots in arms…
JENNINGS: He gave you the vaccine.
ETIENNE: To get the economy open again, so he lied. So lies have consequences and that’s what Biden’s talking about today. You have to be aware of that.
JENNINGS: Jake. This is crazy. I’m sorry, this is insane.
It is ironic that the person accusing Trump of lies and disinformation imputed twice as many covid deaths to his administration as what the actual record reflects. The rest happened under Biden. As is the case with his cognitive decline, it doesn’t get talked about much.
Etienne’s frantic spinning at the end of that exchange is demonstrative of the lengths the media will go to burnish Biden’s legacy. But as Jennings demonstrates, it isn’t that hard to cut through the spin and demonstrate there isn’t much of a legacy to begin with.
