Politics
‘You Sound Unhinged’: Scott Jennings Rips ‘Crazy’ CNN Panelist For Bizarre Rant
CNN’s conservative panelist Scott Jennings generated another viral hit on Tuesday after chiding a fellow guest after he went on an “unhinged” rant about Nazis running the White House.
Jennings, a Kentucky native, kept his composure and gave Harvard professor Jay Michaelson the rope to hang himself as he accused Elon Musk of making a “Sieg Heil” salute on stage in January. The remark came as a salvo in response to Jennings’s assertion that the Trump administration is finally “willing to stand up” for Jewish students after years of antisemitic activity on college campuses.
“I mean, I believe that what’s happened on these campuses in the Ivy League and in other places, mostly private institutions, has been an abomination. And someone has to stand up for these Jewish kids,” Jennings said, with Michaelson, a rabbi, responding, “It’s not gonna be the rabbi at the table.”
“Someone stands up — someone has to stand — someone has to stand up for —” Jennings said before Michaelson interrupted, “It’s not gonna be my friends in Jewish studies who are the greatest, cancelled.”
Anti-Israel protestors stormed college campuses for more than a year following the October 7th, 2023, attack by Hamas, which led to the death of more than 1,400 Israelis and hundreds more taken captive. After taking office in January, President Donald Trump instructed the Department of Education to begin terminating grants to schools like Harvard University that he accused of failing to aggressively combat demonstrations tinged with antisemitic remarks and actions.
“Until Donald Trump came along and his administration and decided to connect federal funds to stamping out the scourge of anti-Semitism on these campuses —” Jennings said while Michaelson interrupted with, “Like Nick Fuentes?”
Nick Fuentes, an antisemite, was invited by Kanye West to join him at a dinner with President Trump in November of 2022, according to the Daily Caller.
“Nobody — nobody, nobody was willing to stand up for them,” Jennings continued while Michaelson continued objecting.
“Like the Sieg Heil salute. Like standing up for Alliance for Deutschland,” rattled off the professor.
Unbowed, Jennings shot back, “I think the American people don‘t want a private university with a $53 billion endowment to get $1 while a Jewish kid is being discriminated against on campuses.
“What a joke. What a complete joke,” the exasperated anti-Trump guest replied.
“Why is it a joke?” Jennings asked, with Michaelson responding. “You guys are nowhere — you have white supremacists in your party and in your administration.”
“You sound unhinged. You sound crazy,” Jennings concluded.
The simmering debate over how to address antisemitism on college campuses hit a flashpoint on Tuesday after the Trump administration canceled $2.2 billion in active or planned grants to Harvard, leaving the richest university in the U.S. reeling as officials cried that the cuts would force them to make dramatic choices, including the murder of macaque monkeys used for research.
In its initial response to the administration, Harvard lawyers promised to challenge the loss in funding and said the school would not comply with federal demands to terminate various diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
“No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,” said Alan Garber, Harvard’s president, in a statement to university officials on Monday.
