The screencap says it all. That's Sarah Longwell, founder of Republican Voters Against Trump, literally pointing an accusatory finger [as she repeatedly did] at Republican Scott Jennings on today's CNN This Morning.
The subject was antisemitism, and Jennings was quadruple-teamed, with the three panelists plus host Kasie Hunt arguing that right-wing antisemitism is more of a problem than the left-wing version.
Underlining that her partner Harlan Mandel is Jewish, far-left activist Maya Wiley summed up the Democrat argument this way:
"We cannot compare organized white, extremism -- I'm saying this as white supremacy, neo-Nazism -- and equate that to kids on a college campus struggling with very difficult issues."
Funny how when they're screaming antisemitic slogans or tearing down posters of Jewish hostages, they're just "kids." Try calling a left-wing student testifying before Congress a "kid"!
Jennings stuck to his guns, repeatedly making the point that the nexus of antisemitism in America today is in the Democrat party, not the GOP.
A very animated Longwell's major goal was to have Jennings admit that Trump had dined with Nick Fuentes, a white supremacist. Jennings did so, saying it was a mistake on Trump's part. But he went on to make the point that Longwell was trying to equate one person having dinner with the "thousands upon thousands upon thousands" of left-wing activists in the streets. Jennings told Longwell: "That's your party now. Those are your people. That's your coalition." Zing!
Hunt gave away which side she was on in how she ended the segment. She thanked Wiley for her "perspective," the key point of which was that we should not equate "organized white supremacy and neo-Nazism to kids on a college campus struggling with very difficult issues."
And what did she thank Jennings for? "Your acknowledgment that this [Trump's dinner with Fuentes] did happen, as Sarah kind of pushed you."
So, no appreciation of Jennings's view that the locus of antisemitism is on the left. Just thanks for Jennings conceding Longwell's point -- after being pushed!
Here's the transcript.
CNN This Morning
9/20/24
6:20 am EDTMAYA WILEY: And we know, because the Harris campaign will, and continues to remind people, who's the one when Unite the Right, when a very antisemitic Unite the Right rally was happening in Charlottesville --
SCOTT JENNINGS: Oh, come on.
WILEY: No! Not come on. Good and bad people on both sides.
JENNINGS: I'm sorry: if you would like to discuss the relative gatherings of antisemitism in this country going on over the last few months. And you want to talk about who's getting together, where and what their political proclivities are?
Let's, let's talk about what's going on on all these college campuses. Let's talk about what's going on in the streets in New York City. And [Trump] is talking about the policy. He did have strong pro-Israel policies. He did take a hard line against Iran. And right now, the U.S. government is constantly Lucy with the football, trying to deal with Hamas.
The antisemitism problem in this country is on the left.
WILEY: Wait, wait, wait, wait. No, no, no, no, no, no.
SARAH LONGWELL: It's with the presidential nominee.
JENNINGS: No way.
WILEY: This is a really important --
LONGWELL: [Inaudible] Nick Fuentes.
KASIE HUNT: Scott, I'm not here to dispute that we have seen antisemitism on display in college campuses. I, that point is taken. But also, this happened with Donald Trump, that he dined with Nick Fuentes right?
LONGWELL: Mark Robinson, Holocaust denier. Nominated --
JENNINGS: Unbelievable. If you guys want to draw, if you guys want to pooh-pooh what we have seen on the streets of America in the wake of October the seventh, the amount of anti, ugly, antisemitic, people ripping down the posters of hostages.
LONGWELL: I agree. I agree with that. I will not vote for those people for president.
JENNINGS: These are not Republicans ripping them down, okay?
. . .
WILEY: We've had hate crimes go up since 2016. Historic levels, year after year after year. And there's a direct link to Trumpism -- ism, ism, and to the rhetoric. And yes, is there antisemitism? absolutely. Have we seen language? I don't -- my partner is Jewish.
What we cannot compare, organized white extremism -- I'm saying this as white supremacy and neo-Nazism, and equate that to kids on a college campus struggling with very difficult issues. And it's our obligation to do a better job with how we have --
JENNINGS: I respect you, I respect you very much in the work you've done. You cannot deny what we have seen in America since October the seventh. And it has only to do with one thing. Antisemitism is on the rise, and there are people who feel like now is the time to let it out. And it is ugly.
LONGWELL: It is ugly. And that is why we shouldn't nominate a president who dines with white supremacists. Who makes one of his key allies --
JENNINGS: Do you want to make apologies for what's going on on the left? Go ahead. I'm not going to do it.
LONGWELL: You are, you are denying that exists on the right. You are stumping for Trump in a way that tries to ignore that he, he himself dined with a white supremacist. He's cozied up to Marjorie "Jewish Lasers" Greene.
JENNINGS: You're making --
LONGWELL: No I'm not.
JENNINGS: You're making a tactical argument and everybody sitting at this table knows where the source of antisemitism is in this country. It is not on the right.
WILEY: No.
LONGWELL: What a denial!
WILEY: That is an extreme statement.
HUNT: I don't think denying it anywhere --
LONGWELL: Did Trump -- wait -- Did Trump dine with Nick Fuentes? Is Nick Fuentes a white supremacist?
JENNINGS: He did dine with Nick Fuentes.
LONGWELL: Is he a white supremacist?
JENNINGS: He should not, he should not have done that.
LONGWELL: Yeah. Okay, great. So now we know that it is not only on the left.
JENNINGS: So you're saying, one person, who got invited to a stupid dinner --
LONGWELL: [inaudible] presidential nominee!
JENNINGS: Versus the thousands upon thousands upon thousands of progressive activists in the streets. That's the equivocation?
LONGWELL: Actually, as an example of a question for you. These college kids, who are wrong. I have done denounced those --
JENNINGS: That's your party now. Those are your people. Those are the people you seek to represent.
LONGWELL: I would never belong to a party with Mark Robinson and Donald Trump.
JENNINGS: That's your coalition. That's your coalition.
HUNT: We're at the point, we're at the point -- can I have an iso [i.e., asking director to zoom in on her, which he does.]
Guys, this is obviously a very emotionally charged conversation. I appreciate, Maya, the perspective that you bring. I appreciate [turning to Jennings] your acknowledgment that this did happen, as Sarah kind of pushed you --
JENNINGS: Of course it did.
HUNT: But I will say, I think it's very important that any corner where we see antisemitism -- left, right, wherever it comes from, it is deeply wrong.
