CNN’s Scott Jennings Calls College Protestors ‘Hitlers’ to Deflect from Report About Trump Praising Nazi Dictator
CNN commentator Scott Jennings likened pro-Palestine protestors to Adolf Hitler amid a report that former President Donald Trump praised the Nazi leader.
On Tuesday, the New York Times released audio of Ret. Gen. John Kelly, who served as Trump’s chief of staff, saying the ex-president claimed Hitler “did some good things.” Hours later, Abby Phillip played some of the audio on CNN NewsNight.
“He commented more than once that, ‘You know, Hitler did some good things, too,'” Kelly quoted Trump as saying. “First of all, you should never say that. But if you knew what Hitler was all about from the beginning to the end, everything he did was in support his racist, fascist life, you know, philosophy, so that nothing he did, you could argue, was good. It was certainly not done for the right reason.”
Jennings reacted to the audio by saying he thinks Kelly is “an honorable person” and noted that Kelly’s son was killed in action. However, Jennings painted the comments as a matter of opinion.
“But I think like everything else with Donald Trump, opinions vary whether you’re coming out of the military or the private sector, or government or anything else,” he said. “And I agree that two weeks before an election will cause some people to look at this in a jaundiced way. Like, ‘You’re trying to drop this here at the end and there will be people who don’t believe it. There will be people who refute it. And Donald Trump himself also refutes it.”
Jennings then pivoted to the universities, which have been hotbeds of pro-Palestine activism in the wake of Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza and now Lebanon:
I would humbly submit to Mr. Kelley that if he’s worried about Hitler and he’s worried about fascism, he ought to pick up the newspaper. There’s thousands of Hitlers running around this country right now, running around college campuses, running around New York City chasing Jewish people around, blocking their access on college campuses. If you’re worried about Hitler and you’re talking about Donald Trump, maybe open your eyes and take in what’s happening on the American left in this country. Those are the Hitlers I’m worried about.
CNN’s Bakari Sellers pushed back.
“Let me also respectfully say that I don’t even agree with many of the protests that are going on on college campuses,” he said. “But it’s more than far. The line has been crossed. You are over there and the line is behind you to compare college students who are protesting for Palestinian rights to Adolf Hitler.”
“They’re literally chasing the Jewish students around UCLA,” Jennings said.
“There aren’t many more pro-Israel Democrats that you will find than myself,” Seller shot back. “And so, I hear you and I understand that their anti-Semitism needs to be rooted out. But what I’m also saying is that your comment was way far beyond the pale.”
“Disagree,” Jennings replied.
Watch above via CNN.
