This text initially appeared on vigilantfox.com and was republished with permission.
Scott Jennings didn’t maintain again Wednesday when he confronted off in opposition to a whole CNN panel stacked with Democrats.
It was nothing in need of a reckoning.
At one level, a New York Instances reporter tried to model Republicans because the “social gathering of taking issues away,” pointing to points like healthcare. Jennings wasn’t having it.
“My rebuttal to that might be Democrats have turn into the social gathering of EXPLODING authorities profit packages… after which saying, ‘Gee whiz, now persons are making an attempt to take issues away.’”
If you wish to see political debate at its sharpest, try all 4 of his takedowns. This was Jennings in peak type.
Scott Jennings didn’t trouble with pleasantries earlier than setting off fireworks on CNN’s panel.
He went straight for Senator Thom Tillis, brushing apart Tillis’s criticism of the GOP’s “Large Stunning Invoice” as not simply misguided however flat-out politically clueless.
“I believe he’s flawed,” Jennings mentioned coolly. “And most—just about each Republican thinks he’s flawed.”
“There’s nothing politically devastating about making an attempt to bar 1.4 million unlawful aliens from getting welfare,” he argued.
“There’s nothing politically devastating about encouraging 4.8 million individuals who select to not work to attempt to work a little bit in an effort to get authorities advantages.”
Jennings additionally reminded the panel that this wasn’t some brutal cost-cutting plan. The invoice included a $50 billion fund for rural hospitals—a difficulty Tillis himself had flagged as a precedence.
“So I don’t agree together with his [Tillis’s] political evaluation, nor does just about each different Republican who helped to craft and in the end move this invoice,” Jennings concluded.
“And I believe Republicans should lean into this stuff: work necessities are good. Encouraging work as a substitute of welfare is an effective factor, and it’ll work in campaigns.”
It didn’t take lengthy for the stress to spike on the panel.
Axios reporter Alex Thompson tried to nook Scott Jennings with what he thought was a traditional “gotcha” second, stating that the invoice’s Medicaid adjustments wouldn’t even take impact till after the midterms.
“You say, Republicans ought to lean in, however most of those Medicaid cuts don’t come till after the midterms. Why is that?” Thompson pressed.
“Nicely, I imply, states run the Medicaid program,” Jennings replied. “I do assume it’s affordable to provide them time to arrange to enact adjustments to this system.”
“However it doesn’t matter, as a result of Democrats are clearly going to go all in on this hysteria marketing campaign,” Jennings warned.
And he supplied this pointed recommendation to his social gathering:
“And I’m telling you as a debating level, if Democrats wish to run on giving Medicaid to unlawful aliens and individuals who received’t work or select to not work, Republicans have a counter-message that may work if they’re keen to courageously defend it.”
Congressman Glenn Ivey joined the controversy and went after Republicans onerous, accusing them of smearing working-class households as lazy freeloaders at a time when many are struggling simply to maintain the lights on.
“I used to be going to say, I imply, you’re placing your Republican colleagues of mine within the place of getting to declare individuals to be deadbeats on the time when they’re working two jobs, they’re doing every little thing they will to make ends meet,” Ivey mentioned.
“And also you guys are going to take the rug out from below them, and so they’re not going to be blissful. They’re going to be rightly, I believe, upset about it.”
Jennings jumped in earlier than Ivey might even end, shaking his head in disagreement.
“You guys are conflating two populations, and it’s not my conjecture. Simply ask the CBO. Everyone likes to quote the CBO, the CBO’s personal numbers,” he countered.
That’s when CNN’s Kasie Hunt tried to throw him off with a teasing jab: “Besides you, usually.” Jennings added.
“Nicely, I’m going to quote them as a result of they are typically common, a minimum of in right here.”
Jennings then laid out the numbers he mentioned proved his level.
“4.8 million individuals on Medicaid who select to not work. That’s not my going out and counting. That’s the CBO. 1.4 million unlawful aliens.”
He argued Republicans might completely promote these distinctions—in the event that they have been keen to talk plainly about them.
“So there’s a inhabitants that chooses to not work that perhaps ought to attempt a little bit,” he added. “And the individuals you cite will not be going to lose their advantages.”
However the dialog was simply warming up.
New York Instances reporter Lulu Garcia-Navarro took her flip difficult the Republican place, arguing their messaging was boxing them in because the “social gathering of taking issues away.”
“It’s a lot simpler to run on a message of somebody took one thing away from you than it’s to say, no, really, we didn’t take it away. Some sure populations are undeserving, sure populations, , aren’t really there to get it,” she argued.
“I hear your evaluation, and it’s a sound debating level,” Jennings acknowledged. However he wasn’t about to let Democrats off the hook.
“My rebuttal to that might be Democrats have turn into the social gathering of EXPLODING authorities profit packages throughout Covid, vastly increasing Medicaid past what it was ever meant to do, after which saying, ‘Gee whiz, now persons are making an attempt to take issues away.’”
Garcia-Navarro shot again. “Do you assume individuals like healthcare, although? Do you assume individuals like healthcare?” she pressed.
Jennings delivered a masterful reply.
“I believe they like healthcare, I don’t assume they just like the system we reside below, which isn’t a Republican system,” he countered. “It’s Obamacare! Which exploded premiums and has vastly expanded the welfare state.”
By the tip of the change, Lulu Garcia-Navarro tried to convey the dialog again to a common worth—one thing nearly everybody might agree on: the concept anybody ought to have entry to medical care.
“However what I’m saying is most individuals do imagine that there needs to be a fundamental capacity to go to a hospital and get some care,” she mentioned.
“I agree,” Jennings replied, “however I believe most individuals additionally imagine that individuals shouldn’t be in a position to sit and do nothing and obtain authorities advantages, or be within the nation illegally and obtain authorities advantages.”
“An try and work is an effective factor,” he added.
“And the Republican ethos is encouraging work. The Democratic ethos is encouraging authorities dependence,” Jennings mentioned.
“That’s the controversy!” he mentioned firmly, realizing it was a mic-drop second.
And similar to that, the 4-on-1 debate led to a unanimous victory for Jennings.
