Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

‘We Can Never Recover’: CNN’s Scott Jennings Clashes With Panel On Whether Republicans Should Endorse Kamala Harris

[Screenshot/CNN]

CNN political commentator Scott Jennings sparred with his fellow panelists on Monday night as he argued against the idea of Republicans endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris.

The Lincoln Project’s Stuart Stevens argued Republicans who oppose Republican nominee Donald Trump are morally obligated to endorse Harris, leading Jennings to question why any Republican voter would support a left-wing candidate. Stevens, along with the rest of the panel, argued Harris is the only candidate who supports the “rule of law” and the Constitution.

“Why would any Republican who believes in any of the old or new tenants of the Republican Party vote for Kamala Harris?” Jennings asked. “She says she’s going to pack the court, remember, her voting record was as the most liberal senator, her platform for president was as liberal or to the left of Bernie Sanders. Why would any Republican, how could they possibly read the conclusion that somehow by voting for this returns us to the conservative way. It makes no sense.”

CNN contributor Cari Champion claimed a voter should pick a candidate who “believes in the rule of law,” while CNN political commentator  Ashley Allison said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell packed the Supreme Court with conservative justices. Jennings then criticized a remark made by former Georgia Lieutenant Gov. Geoff Duncan, who said an individual who votes for Trump is “not a patriot.”

“And I have to tell you how profoundly poorly that’s gonna hit a lot of Republican ears,” Jennings continued. “Look, there are plenty of Republican voters who are lukewarm, maybe wish he hadn’t run again, whatever. But to be told that your… patriotism is dependent upon your choice because you Republican government? I thought that was a poor argument.”

“Republicans are saying you are not an American if you vote for Harris,” Champion said, to which Jennings questioned who had said that. “I’ve heard many of them say that.”

Katie Frost, a former aide to Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, said voters still do not know Harris’ policy platform as she appears to have changed her viewpoints since her 2020 presidential campaign. Jennings then said Republicans cannot be asked to hand over their values to “absolute radical liberals,” leading to a clash with Stevens.

Stevens said voters should not support Trump due to him allegedly being a “horrible human being.” Jennings said this election is also consequential from a policy standpoint, in which he warned Democrats will change the U.S. “in a way that we’ll never recover.”

“It’s more than that. It’s more than what the tax rate is,” Jennings told Stevens. “Profound policy implications and decisions are coming from the next administration. I firmly believe if the Democrats win and if they somehow keep control of the Senate, which I don’t think is likely but is possible, they will eliminate the filibuster and they will change this country in a way that we can never recover.”

“That is important to me,” Jennings continued. “I don’t begrudge your viewpoint, but you cannot begrudge a Republican for wondering, ‘hey, it may be not a great idea for us to drive off the left side of the road so far we can never find our way back.'”

Democrat-turned-independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his campaign and endorsed Trump on Friday. Former Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard followed suit during a Monday address at the National Guard Association in Detroit, Michigan.