Reacting to Tuesday’s breaking news that the far-left Colorado Supreme Court tossed former President Trump off the 2024 primary ballot over his January 6 conduct, CNN’s lone conservative and senior political commentator Scott Jennings offered a hilarious comeback at liberals (which would include those watching CNN) celebrating the move as more hijinks that’ll backfire.
Jennings told OutFront host Erin Burnett that liberals were going to regret pursuing these cases to kick Trump off state ballots (and thus could invalidate his candidacy): “[F]or the biggest sort of liberal Trump haters out there, this is like getting drunk at your office Christmas party. Seemed like a good idea on a Friday night, really going to regret it on Monday morning”.
Rewinding to the beginning, Burnett went to Jennings by smearing anyone opposed to the ruling. Citing what an anonymous “Republican operative” told her, the ruling “will supercharge the extremists who believe that democracy is being stolen.”
Asked whether this will lead to fundraising pitches and “move the needle” further his way in the GOP primary, Jennings didn’t hesitate: “[T]his is more jet fuel for this campaign. Every time he has had a interaction with the legal system, he has seen a boost among Republicans.”
Jennings finally leveled by boom after noting that he would expect his 2024 GOP rivals to denounce the ruling and, after using that drinking analogy, he said Colorado’s ruling “validates everything Donald Trump has been trying to tell the American people, which is that there is a whole system at the federal and now state level trying to keep me away from the White House.”
Later in the block, Cook Political Report’s Amy Walter — who, as a liberal journalist, wanted nothing more than Trump to face Biden — gushed about Trump’s “commanding lead” in polls and said the Colorado ruling was “pretty good timing” for Trump.
Walter also bashed Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) (click “expand”):
WALTER: He can keep beating this drum into the time of the voting, making a very difficult for Ron DeSantis, most especially, who is desperate to show some strength in Iowa. Remember, he has put his entire campaign, put all the chips in the middle of the table here in Iowa. And now what everybody is going to be talking about, certainly for the immediate future, but could be going all the way into January and the caucuses, is what happened in Colorado. One thing I do want to point out, though, is that the Supreme Court is likely — as you’ve noted in the show thus — far the Supreme Court is likely to weigh in here. We don’t know when, or what they will say, but let’s be clear. When we are thinking about the long game, the Supreme Court is going to have a lot of influence in the 2024 election —
BURNETT: Yeah.
WALTER: — on the January 6 defense, on the President’s legal team — the former President’s legal team on presidential immunity, on the mifepristone case and abortion.
Jennings predicted Trump’s messaging in the coming days:
[Joe Biden’s] principal message about Donald Trump is that Donald Trump is the greatest threat to democracy. Well, now, Trump is going to tell the Republicans: who’s a bigger threat to democracy? Me, or the people trying to keep me off the ballot out of a legitimate election. And so, for a lot of reasons, this gives him a chance to try to make Iowa the end of this election.
To see the relevant transcript from December 19, click “expand.”
CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront
December 19, 2023
7:30 p.m. EasternERIN BURNETT: So, Scott, Jeff Zeleny talking about the reaction in that room. So, people came there, they waited for hours. They had seen the news. And this is — this seems to blend together for them. But these are the moments they wait for. They wait for, and they will come to his defense. It sort of fits with what a Republican operative told me, that this will supercharge the extremists who believe that democracy is being stolen. So, what does this mean for his campaign? Do you anticipate this fundraising email going out, be another record? Does this move the needle?
SCOTT JENNINGS: Oh, yeah. I mean, this is more jet fuel for this campaign. Every time he has had a interaction with the legal system, he has seen a boost among Republicans. And now, once again, I expect he will be blessed with, other than Chris Christie, a bunch of opponents who are going to wind up praising him and defending him tonight just as they have in the other instances. I think, for the biggest sort of liberal Trump haters out there, this is like getting drunk at your office Christmas party. Seemed like a good idea on a Friday night, really going to regret it on Monday morning because this validates everything Donald Trump has been trying to tell the American people, which is that there is a whole system at the federal and now state level trying to keep me away from the White House. It is rigged. You know, all the language he uses.
BURNETT: Yes.
JENNINGS: And this will be evidence for those claims. I’m sure we are going to hear it in Iowa tonight. And, boy, this — I suspect this will definitely take the seals out of the Haley boomlet that is supposedly going on right now.
BURNETT: Well, that’s fascinating.
(....)
7:31 p.m. Eastern
BURNETT So, you’re seeing it from different ends of the Republican political spectrum is the point I am making. What do you — what do you think? And to what Scott is saying? Does this take the wind out of the Nikki Haley surge we’ve seen? Because now Trump has this?
AMY WALTER: Well, I think it is certainly — I agree with Scott that it’s certainly some jet fuel for Donald Trump in Iowa, a state where he already has a commanding lead. And the fact that this is happening just, you know, less than a month before the Iowa caucuses is pretty good timing on that front. He can keep beating this drum into the time of the voting, making a very difficult for Ron DeSantis, most especially, who is desperate to show some strength in Iowa. Remember, he has put his entire campaign, put all the chips in the middle of the table here in Iowa. And now what everybody is going to be talking about, certainly for the immediate future, but could be going all the way into January and the caucuses, is what happened in Colorado. One thing I do want to point out, though, is that the Supreme Court is likely — as you’ve noted in the show thus — far the Supreme Court is likely to weigh in here. We don’t know when, or what they will say, but let’s be clear. When we are thinking about the long game, the Supreme Court is going to have a lot of influence in the 2024 election —
BURNETT: Yeah.
WALTER: — on the January 6 defense, on the President’s legal team — the former President’s legal team on presidential immunity, on the mifepristone case and abortion. So, the Supreme Court and other courts are going to be brought into this election at different times. And I think you are going to see a surge and decline. Who does it interest or invigorate? One side would be — one case will be Democrats, the other Republicans.
BURNETT: So, Scott, the numbers, as Amy mentions in Iowa, it is a commanding lead for Trump coming into this, okay, 58 percent. He’s got a majority of the likely Republican voters in the most recent poll. In New Hampshire, he is ahead, but he does not have a majority. And he has been positioning Iowa as sort of — the stronger he is there, and he can just be done. He could just be done. So, what does he do now to capitalize on this? What does he do tonight on that stage?
JENNINGS: Well, I think he tells the people of Iowa that everything I have told you is true. And how do you know it is true? Because of what we are seeing in the news tonight and the Republican Party, 70 percent of the Republican Party nationally, according to all the polls, want me to be the nominee. We need to end this charade right now. You will need to send a message here in Iowa that this primary is over, and give me the momentum to turn this off, so we can focus all our efforts on Joe Biden. If I were them, that is the message I would use. By the way, Joe Biden is out — his principal message about Donald Trump is that Donald Trump is the greatest threat to democracy. Well, now, Trump is going to tell the Republicans: who’s a bigger threat to democracy? Me, or the people trying to keep me off the ballot out of a legitimate election. And so, for a lot of reasons, this gives him a chance to try to make Iowa the end of this election.
