A panel of CNN political reporters were stunned into a stony silence after their Republican pundit spelled out why ordinary Americans voted for Donald Trump.
Scott Jennings, 47, has been praised for telling the ‘absolute unadulterated truth’ by describing the election result as ‘revenge of the regular old working-class American’ who feel like they have been demonized by the left as ‘garbage’ and ‘Nazis’.
Viewers were quick to point out the ‘look of horror on the other commenters faces’, including flagship CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, as they wordlessly stared at Jennings while his words sank in.
Americans online praised the Kentucky-born pundit’s two-minute speech as ‘the greatest post-election analysis ever’ for perfectly capturing how they had felt ‘straw-manned’ and ‘gaslit’ by the Democrats.
It comes as Trump regained the White House on Wednesday after being declared the winner of the 2024 U.S. presidential election at around 5.30am.
‘I’m interpreting the results tonight as revenge of just the regular old working-class American, the anonymous American who has been crushed, insulted, condescended to,’ Jennings said.
‘They’re not garbage, they’re not Nazis. They’re just regular people who get up and go to work every day and are trying to make a better life for their kids, and they feel like they have been told to just shut up when they have complained about the things that are hurting them in their own lives.’
Jennings summed up Trump’s victory as a ‘mandate’ to ‘get the economy working again for regular working-class Americans, fix immigration, try to get crime under control, try to reduce the chaos in the world’.
He also blasted political pundits for thinking ‘gimmicks’ like ‘Tim Walz and the camo hats’ would win the election while ‘ignoring the fundamentals’ like ‘inflation’ and ‘people feeling like they were barely able to tread water at best’.
‘For all of us who cover elections, we have to figure out how to understand, talk to and listen to the half of the country that rose up tonight and said: We’ve had enough,’ Jennings said.
Viewers said they were ‘shocked’ to see someone tell ‘the absolute unadulterated truth’ on CNN. ‘I honestly didn’t think it was possible,’ one person commented.
‘Hearing Scott Jennings speak without being yelled at and, interrupted feels weird. Right?’ another person agreed.
One viewer described his summary of how ordinary Americans had voted as ‘exactly right’. ‘Quit straw-manning and gaslighting us!’ she wrote.
‘We ARE not stupid, racist, xenophobic, or bigots! We ARE hard-working, family-first, God-followers, peace-lovers who want the best for our families, our neighbors, our country, and then the world! Don’t lie to us and dismiss us!’
‘This election should serve as a wakeup call to DC Elites, Hollywood elites and Media activists,’ another person said.
Trump became the first president in over 130 years – and only the second in history – to win a non-consecutive second term on Wednesday.
His defeat of Vice President Kamala Harris marks a remarkable return for a twice-impeached president.
He left office in 2021 on the back of claims that he had incited an assault on the U.S. Capitol building, and was convicted earlier this year on multiple counts of business fraud.
The 78-year-old politician will also become the oldest president ever inaugurated, beating President Joe Biden’s record by five months.
Trump pulled off his remarkable victory on a night reminiscent of 2016, sweeping the key swing states of North Carolina, Georgia and Pennsylvania.
Harris never conceded the race. Instead, former Rep. Cedric Richmond – her campaign co-chair – said after midnight Wednesday that the vice president would not be addressing supporters until ‘tomorrow.’
Trump’s win brings an end to a tumultuous 2024 campaign – punctuated by Biden’s dramatic withdrawal from the race in July, as well as two shocking attempts on Trump’s life.
But his inflammatory rhetoric and propensity for personal attacks means he will now lead a divided country that shows little sign of healing.