Jennings slams CNN for lending credibility to Alex Jones and Tucker Carlson's criticism of Trump

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Scott Jennings slammed his own network, CNN, on Thursday, April 9, for giving airtime to conspiracy theorists and unreliable personalities just because they are now criticizing President Donald Trump. Jennings argued that the media is only highlighting these voices to push a narrative, asking, “We’re treating Alex Jones like a credible voice here?”

The heated debate with anchor John King focused on whether the podcasters and influencers are leading a MAGA revolt against Trump's actions regarding Iran. Jennings insisted that while these figures have opinions, they do not hold more power than the president himself over the Republican base.  

Scott Jennings blasts CNN for giving figures like Alex Jones a platform to attack Trump

The argument started after John King played clips of various media figures attacking Donald Trump's foreign policy. King suggested that even if the voices aren't traditional, many Trump voters listen to them. Jennings immediately called out the hypocrisy of the network for using these sources.

“I mean, we’re treating Alex Jones like a credible voice here? We’re treating Tucker Carlson like a credible voice? We were playing—,” Jennings said. King interrupted to say, “I don’t consider Alex Jones a credible voice, but there are people... you travel the country and talk to Trump voters who do.” 

Jennings dismissed the idea that these influencers have more pull or influence than the president.

“Okay, so let’s just say you’re right, and some people listen to them. Who do you think they listen to more: those people or President Donald Trump? I know what the polling says, and I know my instincts tell me is that Donald Trump runs the party, runs the country, not the podcasters. They’re welcome to have opinions, and I don’t begrudge anybody having an opinion," Jennings said.

"And you could have a different opinion than Donald Trump. But I know who has more influence over the Republican Party and the conservative movement, and there’s no doubt about it. And there has never been any doubt about it — really all that much for the last 10 years. So, their opinions are fine, but the person in charge right now was in charge, is in charge, and will be in charge until he leaves office," he added.  

Scott Jennings says average voters side with Trump over podcasters

As the conversation continued, King brought up social media posts from other controversial figures to show a revolt among Trump supporters. Jennings countered that the people who actually voted for Trump want a strong leader and are not following the lead of internet influencers.

“I hear people saying every day that this is exactly what they voted for. They voted for a commander-in-chief to restore American strength on the world stage. They voted a commander-in-chief to keep Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. They voted the commander-in-chief who would do what the seven previous presidents would not do, and that’s deal with these people with a firm hand,” submitted Jennings.

“You think there’s a single average Republican voter out there, if you went out and knocked on their door tonight and said, ‘Yes or no, should we let podcasters and Democrats remove Donald Trump by the 25th Amendment?’ You’d be thrown off of every porch in America,” Jennings claimed.

Scott Jennings and John King argue over media narratives

King argued that Trump has benefited from this "echo chamber" of allies in the past, and that it must hurt him when they turn against him. Jennings responded by accusing CNN of only caring about these voices when it helps them attack Trump.

“I don’t deny the usefulness of having surrogates and allies, but I think you’re oversubscribing their importance, and undersubscribing the importance of Trump himself. And I think, frankly, the only reason we’re playing them on our air right now is because they’re useful to a narrative," Jennings said. 

We don’t consider these people to be credible at any other time until they are attacking Donald Trump. Otherwise, we call them crazy! Otherwise, we’d call them crazy!” he stressed.

King tried to clarify that he was being careful and didn't view people like Jones or Carlson as credible or conservative, but insisted that Trump voters still listen to them.

Jennings ended the segment by standing his ground. “I’m not disagreeing they listen, I’m not disagreeing they listen, but again, I would just say, listening to someone and taking their word for everything over Donald Trump every—, I just disagree with that,” he concluded.