Speaker 1: Welcome to another edition of The Chicks on the Right podcast.
You guys, I know everybody's just as excited as we
are to have got Gemmys.
Speaker 2: I have to purr on our show every single time.
Speaker 1: She has to do the purr because I can't do it.
Speaker 3: You all are terrific to have me on. And I
just have to say, I hear from people all over
the country almost every day. Do you know these amazing
women on the Chicks on the Right. They're playing your clips,
are talking about you again, they're purring about you. I'm like,
I don't know them personally, but I feel like we
have this cosmic connection. And so this this engagement's been
a long time in the making, and I'm very grateful
to be here and for for everything.
Speaker 1: So happy to have you.
Speaker 2: And after today you can say I personally know them.
We're like bfs job so there.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, and this is going to be unlike perhaps other
shows that you do, because most of the time when
you're on CNN, you're talking about all the news, you're
talking about the stuff it's going on right now, but
very rarely do we ever hear you talk about you.
And that's what we want to know about that's what
our audience wants to know about. So we thought we
would kick it off just by asking you how you
transitioned from being a White House advisor in the George
Bush administration to being, let's face it, the star of
the CNN right now, like you're the reason people are
tuning in. How did that all happen?
Speaker 3: Well, it's a long story. I worked in politics for
a long time, beginning in the year two thousand, so
I've been doing this for twenty five years, and did
work for President George W. Bush, and ultimately when that
was over, I did both campaigns and served in his
White House. I went home to Kentucky and started a
private firm and continue to work in politics somewhat there.
I joined CNN in June of twenty seventeen. I had
actually done about a year with Fox News before that
during the twenty sixteen campaign. But I joined CNN in
twenty seventeen and I've been there ever since. And I've
seen a lot of people come in go, and certainly
a lot of iterations of the network come and go.
But for me, you know where this really sort of
took off in the last year was with the twenty
twenty four presidential campaign and all of the coverage that
we were involved in in twenty twenty. You know, it
was a weird campaign. You know, we didn't have in
person stuff, We weren't traveling, The conventions were virtual. You know,
it wasn't the same. So in twenty twenty four we
did it all. You know, CNN had the pivotal debate
in Atlanta, We covered the conventions. I was in Des
Moines for a debate and the Republican primary. You know,
Ax and Van and I and the team, we traveled
all around together and it was really the robust coverage
that this presidential campaign deserved. I became the principal sort
of Republican translator from Red America, you know, for our
audience and my fellow panel mates, and created a lot
of interesting content. I think one of the most inspired
things CNN did during this election was create this ten
o'clock show, which you all watch and you use a
lot of audio from on a daily basis. It's really
the only debating show on television, and I think that's
why it's working well. That came about in between the
two conventions and twenty four, So really, you know, how
how did we wind up here. It was a convergence
of things. But really the twenty twenty four election and
my good fortune of having been at CNN at the time,
and our executives deciding, you know, we're going to have
a debating show and really put people at the table
who know what they're doing. It all came together at
the right time for me, and now we are where
we are.
Speaker 1: It's really a lot of people were saying suggesting you
as press secretary, and you know, like imagining during the
election cycle, Oh, Scott Jennings should do this. Scott Jennings
should do that? Was Did Trump ever ask you to
participate or would you ever consider going back to politics
in that way?
Speaker 3: Oh? Sure, I think anytime the president asks you to
do something, you have to consider it. And I did
think about, you know, should I drop all this and
go back into government service. I enjoyed my previous service
and have enjoyed being in politics. But the more I
thought about it, honestly, the more I decided, I think
I'm right where I need to be. And I think
that one thing that we cannot do as conservatives is
recede from the places that are more hostile to us.
I mean, the great value of having me in this
role on CNN, I think is just that this audience
and a lot of the people I debate, I'm probably
the only Republican they know, and you know, they're not
hearing what half or more than half, or even eighty
percent of the country thinks about an issue on any
given day. And so I feel like I've carved out
this really interesting role. CNN gives me the space to
do it, and it's where I'm supposed to be right now.
What I rule it out in the future, absolutely not.
What I rule out public service in the future, absolutely not.
I'm grateful for everybody who goes into it and runs
for office and serves in these jobs. And maybe I'll
go back to it someday, but right now I'm right
where I need to be.
Speaker 2: I think it's interesting you talk about the hust stility,
you know, when conservatives walk into like a you know,
just say we went on in a view or something
like that, like Mack and I. We probably never do
that because it is so hostile. But I find it interesting.
You've been in this arena for quite some time, and
we have two Actually we've been doing this for gosh,
it's been sixteen years now we've been doing this and
as chicks on the right, and so we've seen the
I guess, just the whole political arena devolve, you know,
because it used to be I'm old enough to remember
when people could talk about politics and you could be
friends with the liberal you know, and it's different now. Like,
I speak to that a little bit because I know
you're probably friends with like a Van Jones, you're friends
with people at CNA. I mean most of the people
at CNN, I imagine are pretty liberal and you have
I mean walking in there every day. If you're like
the only Republican walking around, it's either going to be
hell every single day to work there, or you are
friends with some of these people. And what is that
like in today's day and age, where people like you say,
you know, like liberals don't have conservative friends, conservatives don't
have liberal friends. Speak to that a little bit.
Speaker 3: Sure, Well, you know, some of my best friends at
the network are actually Van Jones and David Axelrod, who
are you know, two of our biggest democratic stars, I
mean acts as a legend of democratic politics. Van I
think is one of the most thoughtful people in media
and what I admire about them both is that they're
both honesty. They debate in good faith, and they're also
willing to tell their own side hard truths, you know,
And I think there's some value in that in the
punditry world. But we the three of us have been
together now for many years, and we've known each other,
we travel together, we spend time off the air together,
and I really do value my friendship with them. I
think this idea of being able to debate in good
faith is vital. Not everybody does that. The other thing
that's vital in punditry is you can't take it personally.
You know, you go on the air and you you know,
you do what you do, but you can't you can't
take it all personally. I also tell you there.
Speaker 1: Do that though, because like the you know, the most
recent example I can think of is when Nira Tandin
was on and to us, it seemed very obvious that
you were angry, like you guys were fighting, legit fighting,
And then we noticed that you weren't on the air
for a couple of days. We were like, we don't
know how the scheduling works, but I don't know how
you recover from, like my blood pressure would be way
up here. I don't know how you handle some of
the personalities that get on that panel, because they can.
I don't think they're arguing in good faith, like you said, Well.
Speaker 3: Some people don't, and she's one that does not. She
never has. She's one of the nastiest people in Washington, DC,
and anybody who's ever worked with her or against her
will tell you that. And and look, I'm just I'm
not gonna I'm happy to let you know. As you
probably noticed, in my style, I don't really interrupt people,
you know. I tend to think people ought to be
able to say their piece. You know, I get interrupted,
you know, three to five seconds into everything I do,
But I try to let people unspool. But I'll tell
you the one thing I'm not going to do is
let people put words in my mouth, ascribe positions to
me that I don't hold, or otherwise make bad faith
arguments about you know, what I think is the general
position of the average Republican or the average conservative in
the moment, and that's what she excels at. And so yeah,
I was. I was not happy with her. Now do
I get heated like that often. No, but sometimes I
think you have to show people I'm not going to
be a pushover. I'm not going to be rolled over here, right.
And it's one thing to debate, and it's another thing
to act in a totally bad faith manner, which you
know some people do on you know, van and acts.
Never I mean I never walk away from any of
our debates thinking, you know, that really was sort of
a nasty move, or that was a you know, a
really underhanded way to engage in that conversation. I never
think that about them, but some people do come to
the table and carry that attitude. Look, I try to
take everybody as they are and give them the space
they need to make their arguments. My favorite part of
the job, honestly, is just repeating back to people what
they just said sixty seconds prior and then listening to
them say I never said that. You know. It happens
every single night. It happens every single night.
Speaker 2: I think the way that you argue, though, has hit
a nerve with people because you do it in a
way where you are you can beat people down, like
I'm saying this in my daisy way, like you can
you can apply a SmackDown on people, but it's in
a really nice, sort of gentle way, and that is
a it's good for conservatives because you know, like you said,
we've been walked all over for years. We've just kind
of sat and taken a lot of crap for a lot.
And we've no doubt we've talked about that for sixteen years.
We talked about how we're like, oh.
Speaker 1: My god, I wish we'd just grab us out of balls.
Speaker 2: And just fight back a little bit and fight fire
with fire with some of these people because we just
get walked over a lot. So I think people really
appreciate your style because you're not mean. You're not mean,
and you're not nasty. You do apply a SmackDown when
it smacked down, and.
Speaker 1: There's a little snark that we jo we we tend
to be kind of snarky.
Speaker 3: Well it has to be, you know, it has to
be somewhat entertaining.
Speaker 1: Right, It is totally right, you know.
Speaker 3: I think the best way to handle these debates is
to show up and know something you know last night
or earlier this week is a is a good example,
this signal story about the national security time they get
on the thing, so you know, a lot of people
would just come to the table, they would have read
a few tweets, and then they just start spouting off
and and and I hear people all the time go
out on limbs saying things they couldn't possibly know whether
it's true or not. So they make assertions. You heard
this about Elon musk Alot. You know, I know he's
a Nazi and this was a Nazi salutor or whatever. No,
you don't, you don't. You don't know that. But how
can you find things out? Pick up the phone, call somebody,
do a little more research than just read the last
five tweets in your algorithm. And that's what I do.
So I, you know, I picked up the phone before
that show the other night. I call the National Security Advisor.
I was like, give me your you know, kind of
give me your perspective on this. He did. I was
able to go on the air and give a pretty
straightforward recitation of where I thought they were and the
arguments they were planning to make. It turns out most
of that came true in public the next morning, when
Caroline Levitt, the Press Secretary, issued a statement on the matter.
That's the best way to do it. Is show up with.
Speaker 1: But you were fair too, Yeah, you were fair. And
one of the things I mean, you know, with that
signal story, we got a lot of flak from our
audience for criticizing the fact that it happened. It was
a huge f up, you know what I mean. And
your PR guy and Daisy that morning had said, if
I had been advising Pete Hegseth, for example, how to
answer reporter questions about this, here's what I would have said.
And she said, you say the positive upfront, how successful
the mission was, but then you own that a mistake
happened and that it won't happen again. And nobody did that,
And it felt like they were engaged in this gas lighting,
which I did not like because I don't like being
gas liped by my own side.
Speaker 2: They were on the defense rather than being on the offense.
And I think that there's a way, like you do
PR and I and I used to do comms for
a living, and so I understand that, like you can,
you need to put yourself on that rather than be
like on your you know, on your heels. You need
to make sure that you're on the offense with this
step and go okay, we totally screwed this up, you guys,
like there is we shouldn't have been. First of all,
I don't know how like why are they using signal?
But at the same time I get it, like I
guess they don't have anything that's more technologically like advanced
than saying I don't know, you think they would with
all the tax dollars we give them, but they don't.
But I guess they're spending it on transgender mice, so
they have to spend it on really important you know.
But I mean this, but this is the thing. They
should have been a little bit more proactive and said, Okay,
we probably screwed this up. It won't happen again. But
I mean, I see why they're they're showing they're trying
to put on display the good things that happen, and
that's the good things we want to be. They listen,
if you look at what they were talking about, I
look at that, and I think, because I know that's
what some people are wanting us to see, I can
see where Yeah, they these are good people. They are
good people behind.
Speaker 3: This m I think I think that if you look
at the discussion, it was a thoughtful policy discussion among
high level officials about how best to execute the president's
direct orders the impacts of those orders. So you know,
when some of these folks were appointed heexth for instance,
there was a lot of criticism. They have no idea
what they're doing, they don't know anything about. When you
look at this discussion, they quite obviously know what they're doing.
And if you look at the military operation that took
place after that, it was executed with precision, right, and
we did what we intended to do. We killed one
of the main bad guys, and we ultimately righted or
wrong of the Biden administration, which was to let these pirates,
you know, go unimpeded. The fact that they did it
on signal, it's a teachable moment, probably won't happen again.
Trump the next day said, Mike Wallas is a good man,
and he's learned a lesson from this. Well. Of course,
when you make a mistake or you do something you
wish you hadn't done, what's the most important thing. Just
learn a lesson and move forward and continue to do
the best job that you can do. I have no problem.
I mean, look, Trump did the right thing here. I
think one of the reasons the Democrats are raging about
this is because they are still licking their wounds from Afghanistan. Yep.
When Biden went underwater was the day of the disastrous
Afghanistan withdrawal. They had long argued, you know, the adults
are back in charge, and that really sunk that talking point.
It was tragic people died, and then they treated the
American soldiers and their families who died like garbage. Yeah,
and it was, and it left a terrible taste in
the mouth of the American people that Democrats don't really
take national security seriously. They're bumbling, they're incompetent, and they
disrespect our service members. Fast forward to today. I think
part of the rage is just because they know how
wounded their party is going back to Afghanistan, and so
they're constantly grasping to try to change the narrative. The difference,
of course, is here, nobody die. I know, Americans died
in this attack. No information was divulge, nothing bad happened.
It is a teachable moment, but there's no comparison. I
would rather have the ruthless precision of the Trump administration
executing against the Huthis versus the bumbling incompetence. Yes, that
Biden displayed on Afghanistan one hundred times out.
Speaker 2: Of on you and absolutely and in general, My god,
that guy just had full blown dementia and he was
crapping his pants every single day. It's just he was
a disgrace, an absolute disgrace. It's like we're held to
a different standard we always have been in everything.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I think it gives you credibility. And we
say this about Van Jones a lot too, that he
is a thoughtful person when it comes to the issues.
He's not just immediately going to go hard left. If
there's criticism to be made on his own side, he
makes it. I think you do that. I think we
do that, and I think it's important for conservatives and
whatever side you're on to do that, because otherwise you
just look like a shell.
Speaker 3: I think Taylor Van, I'll Taylor Van has been really courageous.
You know. I've been wearing the yellow hostage pin since
October the seventh. Van was the second person to put
it on at the network, and I know takes a
mountain of grief from his own side about his support
for Israel, for the hostages, for unequivocally condemning what happened
on October the seventh. He has been unwavering, and God
bless him. When I see him stand up to that,
it really it makes my heart full, because you know,
I honestly, I'll say the same thing about John Fetterman,
who I disagree with on a great many issue. He
has stood up to his own party on the issues
around October the seventh. There's some value I think in
recognizing when your political opposition does the right thing. Now,
I'm just going to say, without hesitation, Van Jones, John Fetterman,
and a handful of Democrats have done the right thing
on this is real issue. And you know, in our discourse,
finding people like that is rare. And when you find one,
hang on to him because they're obviously good faith act.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, absolutely, And I know.
Speaker 2: And I bet you he's a hugger too, ma, I
bet you him would get along beautifully. I'm a hugger, is.
Speaker 3: Van Van and I do. We've done a few public
speaking engagements together. Going going to a public speaking thing
with a Van is like going with like a religious figure. People.
It's crazy, like people come up to him, they want
to come and touch the him of his garment, you know,
and uh and and and lay hands on Van And meanwhile,
you know, you're just sitting there like, why did this?
Speaker 1: You know, I think you're about to get that treatment.
I mean, your popularity is exploding. You're now getting you know,
promoted by Elon Musk. It doesn't get bigger than that, right,
And I got to ask, I mean, because we want
to know some of the like juicy gossip behind the scenes,
of course, only what you're willing to share. But like,
is Abby mad at how much attention you get because
you are the star of your art, the star, I
mean you are you are well Abby.
Speaker 3: First of all, I love Abby because she has taken
on a role here that you know, her show before
this was not like this. It was more of a
standard sort of news panel type show looked a lot
like all the rest of the shows. And you know,
they come to you and say, we're gonna totally reorient
your show. We're gonna put it at a round table,
We're gonna put all these people out there and they're
gonna fight, you know, I mean, it must have been
it must have been kind of nerve wracking, honestly to
take on something so new in the heat of a
presidential campaign, and she did it, and she has presided
over I think the most unique and the best show
on cable television.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 3: And the numbers reflect it. The ratings are good. People
watch it. I think it creates the most viral moments
on show.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but you are the reason for that. So I
just wonder if that is weird for her or like,
like when you guys get scheduled, because you know, it's
different people every night. Sometimes it's sure Michael, who I
also think is amazing. I mean, he's not Scott Jennings,
but like, you know, he's great. So when you get scheduled,
are you told in advance? Okay, tonight you're going to
be on with so and so and so and so,
and like when you hear certain names, are you like.
Speaker 3: You know what I mean? Usually find out who who's
on the show? Like late in the day, okay and so.
Speaker 1: Do you get topics too?
Speaker 2: Do you get topics and you can research and stuff
like that. I wonder about that.
Speaker 3: So late in the afternoon you start to get through
the first version of the topics. But you know what's
interesting about the news cycle right now, is you know,
a lot of things happen between say four o'clock and
ten o'clock, and so the topics you get it four,
you know, they can be totally different by the time
you get to the air. We certainly had nights where
the topics get thrown out, or at least a couple
of them do. And you're dealing with breaking news. Oh yeah,
and you've got to be prepared to react to that.
But you know, as a panelist, you don't really have
control over who your fellow panelists are, what the topics
are going to be. That those decisions are made by
the producers and you show up and you you deal
with it in the moment, and you know, make make
make the most of it. On the scheduling of it,
I try to do this show three nights a week, okay,
is kind of my goal. And so usually it's Monday
and Tuesday and then Thursday. There are some weeks where
I have other things going on that I have to
move things around. Uh. Last week, in fact, I did
Monday and Tuesday, but then I had a speech in Kansas.
I got invited by the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, and
then I was going to come back on Thursday, and
I was like, you know, I've been home in a while,
so I I probably am. It's back. You know, basketball
is on tonight, so anybody really watching the news, the
rest of us will be watching the NCAA tournament. So
that's such an Yeah, I took a I took a day.
I took a day last week, but this week, you know,
I did Monday, Tuesday, I was down in DC. On Wednesday,
I did. I was back in New York on Thursday.
That's that's kind of my usual cadence.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I was going to ask, like, how
often your home? I mean it's probably like just weekends
pretty much, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3: I try to go home Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Occasionally I'll
sneak home on a Thursday. But honestly, over the last
few months, in addition to my C and n stuff,
you know, I've gotten a number of public event requests.
I've been able to go speak to a lot of groups,
made a lot of truts.
Speaker 1: People are going to want to start feeling your hems.
Speaker 3: I know, the very gonna have to put up some
chain link fence around But but and it's been really neat.
I was just in Kansas the other day, which was
a fun speech. I was in Houston a couple of
weeks ago, I was in Utah recently, so a lot
of these are coming in and it's also a lot
of fun to go out and talk to the people.
I tell you, one thing I hear out on the
road is people love the show, but the way they're
consuming it is interesting. You know, when I started seeing in,
you know, viral clips weren't really a thing yet.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Now you know a lot of people are assuming the
content of the show in little clumps, you know, whether
it's something I've put out, or one of these clip
aggregators has put out, or you know, a lot of
news is generated on the show. So I've been kind
of fascinated to see how people are consuming you know,
the content, and it's an hour show, but sometimes you know,
two or three minutes. You know, catches all the attention
on any given night, But you know, getting out and
talking to people, listening to people and hearing how they're
consuming it has been instructive to me on how best
to do the job.
Speaker 2: That's awesome. Yeah, we really are because our community means
everything to us too, So we're all about getting out
there and not that we're famous like you, but oh
you are.
Speaker 3: If my text messages are any indication you are not.
Probably the three most famous women in North America every day.
Speaker 1: We walk around all the time.
Speaker 2: People don't know who we are. No, seriously, I have
a question that is super personal, So if it gets cut,
I won't have my feelings hurt. But I'm super I'm
interested in this because I'm really interested in like health
and fitness and all that kind of stuff. And you
have had a major glow up. Not that you weren't
completely hot before Scott Jennings, but you have had a
glow up over.
Speaker 1: I couldn't sert a perr here if I could do it.
Speaker 2: But you've had a glow up over the past couple
of years, and I'm curious as to what you did
and how you continue to be in such great shape,
especially since you do travel a lot. What do you do, like,
what is your regimen?
Speaker 1: How do you do that?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Great question. I've been I've been pretty open about it.
So I struggled with my weight for a good chunk
of my life. Didn't really know much about it how
to manage it, you know, really, until I was long
into my adult ears. And yeah, I've had people in
my family that have struggled with the same thing. It's
not uncommon. But I discovered a few years ago the
magic of intermittent fasting and okay, stop eating garbage. These
are the two things p Good have known. But I
discovered intermittent fasting and really kind of just cutting out.
Speaker 2: The sugar, okay, all right.
Speaker 3: And so during my life when I have wanted to
lose weight, which has been neces seria at times, I
just I engage in a little bit of an intermissing
intermittent fasting regimen, and I tried desperately to limit the sugar.
I know sugar is an addiction. I know I don't
want a cookie. I want ted cookie. And you just
have to know that about yourself. And it's not easy.
I mean, there are people I run into folks out
there who who tell me I struggle with the same thing. Yep.
Intermittent fasting has been a good tool for me to
help control some of the issues that I have. And
over the last several months, I lost I think I
lost about sixty pounds honestly, right yeah, right before the conventions,
I think i'd gotten up to about two hundred and
forty pounds, to be honest, And I didn't, you know,
I didn't feel great. I didn't love the way. And
it's the one thing about being on television you get
to see your own fat face on. It's like motivating.
But I just I knew, But I knew I was
off the rails, like I was not following what I
knew to be a healthful protocol for me.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So I got back on the wagon and got back
into my intermittent fasting regimen, and I woke up earlier
this week at one eighty point zero on the dot.
Speaker 1: So for you, so you, how's your family reacting to
the new attention, because I mean, within this last year
you've exploded in popularity. Is do your kids get that
you're famous? Is your is your wife like back off
chicks start herring in him?
Speaker 3: Right right? Yeah, I get it. I get a daily
report on your old's commentary.
Speaker 1: Tell her that we are happily married and like very harmless.
We are harmless for sure.
Speaker 3: Yes, the kids are interesting. I have four kids, fifteen, eleven, nine,
and seven. One of the four of them, my eleven
year old, I think, is quite interested in what I do.
My fifteen year old has a teacher at his high
school who follows some of my commentary, so he's I
think he's experienced in his and his friends on the
baseball team, you know, see a lot of things on YouTube. Yeah,
and they're like, oh, so. So the barometer by which
my oldest believes I am either doing a good or
a bad job is this if he goes to school
and his friends like, oh, your dad totally got owned
on CNN last night, or no, your dad totally laid
the smack down on somebody. So my oldest barometer of
whether I'm failing as a human comes purely from his
friend's interpretation of the latest YouTube.
Speaker 1: God, I have a fifteen year old too, so I
totally can relate.
Speaker 3: I can. Yeah. So that's been an interesting way to
experience that. But they're all really good boys, all four boys,
and they're good kids, and they put up with a lot.
They put up with the travel.
Speaker 2: They also put up at the age of Scott, you
have fifteen, eleven.
Speaker 3: Nine, and seven. Oh my gosh, how fine. Yeah, and
a lot of destruction in the Jennings household.
Speaker 2: Gosh, that is a lot of testosterone for your wife
God bless her.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we have chickens. Like do you have other
like estrogen bearing animals.
Speaker 2: Like nice were like a female dog or something in
the house.
Speaker 3: Okay, we have a we have a pug named Fiona,
and you all know we have a bulldog named Elvis,
which I saw. I saw your commentary. But I know
you don't like smash based dogs, but she does.
Speaker 2: Mariam is a bulldogs fan, which makes no sense. George
went to Georgia. This is not okay for her not
to like bulldogs, right.
Speaker 3: So we have two smash faced dogs, you know, Bulldog
and Plug. But we have and then we have a
little terrier named Baxter who we rescued some years ago.
And we have a female bearded dragon, or at least
we believe it's a female. That's what the vet told
us years ago.
Speaker 1: No, yeah, how did you end up with that? Like?
What was is that one of the kids?
Speaker 3: Yes, when my fifteen year old was like seven, he
was desperate for a bearded Well, first of all, he
was desperate for a snake, which we got him a
snake which promptly escaped from the terrarium and and visited
my wife in the bathroom one morning it's the true story.
I then went on a trip during I come back
from the trip and I come in and you know,
there's just a lot of somberness in the kitchen. I'm like,
what is going on in here? Like, well, the snake died,
Like what do you mean? My wife said, well, we
gave it a bath. I'm like, you gave it a bath.
And it turns out I'm pretty sure she just murdered
the snake. Yeah, under the guys of giving it a
bath or whatever. So the snake went away. That then
led to the bearded dragon, which we've had now for
many years, and that I take care of the kids. Yeah,
we take care of so. But the vet early on
told us she thought it was a female bearded dragon.
So long story short, female beardi, female pug, thirty something
chickens that are all females. We had a rooster one. Yeah,
it was not great we having a rooster. If you're
a backyard chicken farmer, I know I have.
Speaker 1: I had a rooster.
Speaker 2: I used to be a backyard chicken farmer right.
Speaker 3: Now, him and our rooster literally would not stop humping
the chickens, like literally twenty four hours.
Speaker 1: They are dicks.
Speaker 3: They are, I mean this, So it was constant harassment.
I named this rooster Cuomo at the time because it
was constantly harassing its coworkers. It would not shut the
f up. And so I took the rooster to a
chicken swap and I traded it for like three hens.
And so anyway, no more roosters in the gen.
Speaker 2: They're not a salty They're just mean, you know what
I mean, they are one of the useless. Yeah, and loud.
Speaker 3: They don't they don't they're not they're not. And I
don't fertilize eggs. We just eat the eggs. We collect that,
we eat the eggs. I'm not hatching chickens. I don't
really need its rooster.
Speaker 2: Nobody does. We love men. I just I mean, I
you know, but I become very much of a feminist,
a weird feminist when it comes to roosters.
Speaker 1: You know, it's like they're not needed.
Speaker 3: Yeah, these chickens I had got so mad because and
like the slower chickens could not get away from Cuomo,
and so they were just constantly being harassed and worse
and just assaulted. And you know, I have like plump
laying hens and they were just they're not fast. They're
not fast enough to escape, so.
Speaker 1: I guess, and they're not interested eighty six the rooster. Yeah,
so are you? Is there any chance that we're going
to see a Scott Jennings hosted show, like is that?
Is that a possibility that you're going to get your
own gig at some point on CNN?
Speaker 3: I don't know about that. I think the network is
going through some evolution when it comes to different kinds
of content they're producing. You could see in the future
more digital only content, maybe some podcasts that they decide
to produce. It's a it's a discussion that we've had about,
you know, what else can we do here with this
political team that we've assembled, And so, you know, I
don't I don't really have anything specific to say about it,
other than to say CNN is my home. I'm actually
I've really told anybody this, but I'll tell you I'm
in the process of re signing with the network for
another three years.
Speaker 1: Amazing.
Speaker 3: It was in the news. It was in the news
that I never really affirmative, but it is true. I'm
gonna stick with them for the long haul and we'll
we'll see what that entails. I would do anything for
them they asked me to do. They've been really good
to me. They hired me, you know, back in twenty seventeen,
and they've given me all this space to perform and
to do my job. So I'm really really happy with them.
Speaker 1: And what would you say to people that like, Because
we've got a lot of folks in our audience who
are just as you might imagine, virulently anti CNN, anti MSNBC.
They're convinced that it's all fake news. What would you
say to them to change their mind?
Speaker 3: I think CNN, especially with the ten o'clock Show, is
doing its level best to present a debating format that
allows a conservative to go on there and make the
case for what half, for more than half of the
country is thinking and feeling. I don't think you're going
to get that really anywhere else in the media. So
I can't speak for MSNBC other than to say that
the clips of that I see are totally unhinged. But
for CNN, I do think they understand the value of
having perspectives from Americans from across the political spectrum. And yes,
it does probably feel lopsided at times on the panels
and so on and so forth. But I've never been censored.
I've never been handed a script and said you must
read this. I've never been told you can't make this
argument or that argument. All I've ever been told is
be your authentic self, give us the lay of the
land for the average Republican, and will react accordingly. And
that's honestly what we've done. Interestingly, about that ten o'clock show,
there really are no scripts, you know, when you hear
these debates, I'm not reading anything off a telephont. These
are in the moment debates reacting to what is essentially
breaking news. And I think that authenticity and the willingness
to put people with multiple perspectives out there is what
is selling. I think it's selling in our politics. I
think authenticity is the coin of the realm of public
communications right now, and so the people who are getting
response from audience are the people who are authentically presenting
a point of view. And for CNN, I think recognize
that and make a show of it is a good
reason to watch it, and so I would encourage you
to come on back in. I think I think I
think you'll enjoy it, and I'll certainly keep it as entertaining.
Speaker 2: I think that's a great point, the authenticity thing. And
do you think that legacy media, because of all of
it's sort of a propaganda slant over the past, you know,
many years, has taken a hit because of the lack
of authenticity. I mean, I think if I hear you
on the CNN thing, I think they're probably maybe a
little bit different than the MSNBC's or maybe the CBS
is or the ABCS. But do you think that's why
they've taken such a hit is because they aren't authentic,
because they are so scripted, because they get the talking
points like that it's a constitutional crisis and it's a
threat to democracy, and like what is it like this week?
Speaker 1: I don't know, there's always just right.
Speaker 2: It's like there's always something you hear all over the
they all say the same things. It's like American people
are smarter than that shut up, you know, so we
hear a lot. Do you think that's why they've taken
such a I think.
Speaker 3: The hit has come from well, frankly, getting things wrong
number one and number two being more interested in narratives
than just the facts of any situation. I mean, you
look at over time, you know, the big stories in
our culture, a narrative forms. I said this on Election
Night on CNN after Trump and won, that I thought
the election last year was an indictment of the political
information distribution complex. And you look at all the narratives
that were formed and pushed during the campaign that all
turned out to be true, and anybody with half a
brain could tell they were not true, that this was
not really you know, how the election was going, and
yet you were force fed narratives to try to make
you believe that that's how it was going. And now
we have access to so much more information than we've
ever had. We've sort of a democratized information distribution system
that puts pressure to me on mainstream media to do
less narratives and more authentic facts. And I think it's
ultimately some people are going to learn the lesson and
some people aren't. But I really think the reason you've
seen in the Gallop poll and other measurements for the
media to take such a hit, it's just people don't
like the narratives. They would rather know what's going on.
They don't mind other points of view, but they don't
want They also don't want to feel demonized for disagreeing
with that.
Speaker 1: Point, right, And they don't want the point of views
to be like packaged in the same wrapping paper on
every single channel by every single talking head. And I
think that it's not even just the mainstream media that's
taking the hit. It's Democrats who are in a massive
identity crisis. They cannot figure out where what their lane
is and so they're on the struggle bus big time.
And I don't know if they're going to end up
going the ways of Jasmin Crockett and AOC or if
they're going to moderate a little bit. What do you
think is going to take what would make them win? Like,
what's the better option for them?
Speaker 3: The best option would be to find people who aren't lunatics,
who have the ability to speak, you know, from the heart,
and have an authentic point of view, and not hate
them because they might deviate on an issue. I mean,
I've lately it's interesting Fetterman, who I mentioned earlier. I
think he's their most authentic guy. I was not a
fan of him during the campaign. I really thought that
was a strange way that Senate campaign unfolded. But I
had been so impressed with him and he appears to
me to speak authentically and in a way that regular
people can understand. He doesn't engage in the political pablum,
which I think is one of the Trumps superpowers. He
kind of he started the war on pablom and twenty
twenty four kind of finished it. But you look at
when Fetterman gets off the reservation, gets out of line,
they go after him like crazy. They get him no
space to do that. So what appears to me right
now is that Jasmine Crockett is the unquestioned leader of
the Democratic Party. Oh my gosh, he is here and
then and then what you see are people following along
and acting accordingly. So her her kind of hate speech,
I think, against Republicans and against people who don't vote
for demicrats gets picked up on by other people like
Jimmy Kimmel, the comedian who the other night was cheering
on the attacks on Tesla dealerships.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and so the audience.
Speaker 3: And that was that was my next point. Listen to
the audience. They were enraptured by the idea that these
violent attacks were taking place. You saw the same thing
on the Daily Show. You had an audience full of
people who were just roaring at the thought that, yeah,
we're gonna go out and be violent. That appears to
me to be the way the Democrats are headed. It's
sort of you know, we've always known they were kind
of sort of emotionally unstable mobs. That's kind of the
constituency group of the Democratic Party. Now you can add
violent mobs to that. And I don't know that they're
going to stop because there's an there's a cheering audience
that loves it. They love it. I mean Chuck Schumer,
who I dislike intensely the other day couldn't even have
a book tour event because he's afraid of his own people, right,
He's afraid. He was he was afraid of his own
people going to a book tour event. So there's a
lot of emotional unhinged and ultimately, I think people with
violent tendencies who are ascendant on the left right now,
and I think that's where the energy and their party is,
and I think it'll be to their detriment. Look at
their poll numbers. I mean they're at the lowest polling
in fifty years, totally because I think average people, I don't,
you know, I don't I don't need to be screamed at.
I don't need to be have my car keyed, and
I don't need you to tell me how wrong in
rotten in the United States is. I just, you know,
I just want to live my life and have a
competent government.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because everything is so based on hate. They don't
have policy, but they have. I hate Trump, I hate
Elon And it's like, I can tell you what I'm against,
I just can't tell you what we're for.
Speaker 3: Yeah, what I'll tell you what they're for. And what
troubles me the most is they'refore silencing anybody who disagrees.
I think part of the whole Kimmel thing the other
night was, you know, this wasn't him just cheering it on.
It was effectively marching orders and the messages silence yourselves,
or we'll do it for you. And that's what the
left ultimately wants conservatives to do. They want you to
go away, they want you to shut up. They want
you to effectively cease any activity in the public square.
That's what they want. They want to yell at you,
they want to talk over you. And if you won't
accept that, okay, now we're going to take it to
the next level that is effectively how they operate and
then they call us.
Speaker 1: Yes and strategy that can't be a winning strategy to people. Yeah,
I was gonna say, I have to hope that there's
way more normies out here on both sides of the
aisle than there are the fringe edges. But man, those
fringes are loud.
Speaker 3: They are loud and uh and and they're ascendant. And
I mean, just in your own news diets, who do
you see the most Oh yeah, you see Crocket, you
see AOC, you see Maxine Waters. I mean, you see
the people on the left who are willing to say
the most radical, fascist things. They're the ones who who
have the energy. They're the ones who are getting the airtime.
They're the ones who are the most aggressive. Right now,
I feel like the normies in the Democratic Party are
receding and they're afraid, you know, they don't know what
to do. And some of the ones that I think
are normies are trying to play act like they are
also you know, sort of radical, you know, people with
violent tendencies, but they just sort of come off looking like,
you know, idiots when they do it. I mean, you
can't authentically act like that.
Speaker 1: It's like Chuck Schumer grilling a burger lel authenticity.
Speaker 3: Yes, and so then so those people sort of end
up looking like buffoons. Yeah, they're in a mess. They're
on a true identity crisis right now, and the only
thing they know to do in reaction to it is
to yell louder and blow things up. And you know,
I just don't think it's the winning strategy. Luck with that, Yeah,
not a winning strategy.
Speaker 1: Well, Scott Jennings, We're not going to take too much
more of your time. This has been so fun, but
I'm so appreciative of us. Yes, our audience is going
to just lose their minds happiness.
Speaker 3: I'm grateful for you. I'm grateful for your audience who
I hear from on a on a regular basis. I
really appreciate what you all do on your show every
day and the dedication. I know how hard it is
to produce content every day and stay on top of
the news and and and it's what you all do
is extremely fun. It's funny, it's professionally done, and I
think it's a real value to the conservative you.
Speaker 1: Professional is not.
Speaker 2: Endorsement this, We're definitely we're definitely not professional, but we
appreciate you and hope you can come back on the
show again.
Speaker 1: Real sim yeah, thank you, thank you.