CNN Anchor Torpedoes Pro-Trump Scott Jennings Defense Of Trump On Racist Rally Jokes: ‘It Wasn’t Just This Comedian’

CNN anchor Sara Sidner pushed back on pro-Trump analyst Scott Jennings when he defended former President Donald Trump over racist jokes that were told at his Madison Square Garden rally.

Trump is getting a lot of attention for the antics at his Madison Square Garden rally, which his critics compared to an infamous 1939 American Nazi rally even before it began.

In particular, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s joke about Puerto Rico being a “floating pile of garbage” has been played essentially on a loop by cable news following the rally — so much so that the Trump campaign tried to distance itself from the comment.

But there were other explosive and outrageous moments — from Hinchcliffe and other speakers.

On Monday’s edition of CNN News Central, Jennings tried to minimize the damage by suggesting the comic was a lone aberration, but Sidner ticked off a litany of other speakers, including Trump, who crossed lines.

Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha went so far as to say the comments could “cost Trump the election”:

SARA SIDNER: Scott, why would the campaign invite this guy, who is known for racist jokes in the past, to speak?

SCOTT JENNINGS: Yeah. I don’t know. It’s a stupid idea and really dumb. I mean, there’s no other no other way to characterize it.

I was glad to see that even before Trump made the stage last night, the campaign had a statement out distancing himself from this.

It was a really, really, really, really, really dumb idea. And it distracts from, you know, what Trump’s overall closing message has been, which if you look at what he’s saying and you look at his paid ads, which they released on Sunday, it’s really mostly about the economy and about immigration and about how we can have a more optimistic future in America.

So it’s a situation where the campaign obviously had a plan to turn the message towards the two issues that work and to a sunnier future. And this comedian that I’ve never heard of until yesterday showed up and caused some trouble. So, really dumb.

SARA SIDNER: But Scott and Chuck, it wasn’t just this comedian. You had many other things said there, where the businessman Grant Cardone likened Harris to a prostitute, saying she has pimp handlers and another speaker called her the devil. Another speaker called her the anti-Christ.

Trump also said the other side is smart and vicious. They are indeed the enemy from within.

Chuck, is this message going to shift anyone’s idea about who they are going to vote for in your mind?

CHUCK ROCHA: Look, I’ve been doing this a long time and normally everybody says everything’s all baked in. You know what you get? Chuck, you Democrats can’t take a joke.

I think last night could have cost him this election. And let me tell you why. I’ve been doing this for 35 years. I’m not paid to be pretty on TV. I’m paid to win elections.

And what that meant last night was Puerto Ricans are very prideful people. There are 600,000 of them in Pennsylvania. Will this mean that all of them run to Kamala Harris. No, but I’ll tell you what, last night there was a group of Latinos that got together and said enough is enough.

And this morning, as Puerto Ricans are waking up in Pennsylvania, this video was on their cell phones because Democratic operatives, including me, Nuestro PAC and a bunch of other folks said enough with it being baked in. Let’s remind people about how they really feel about our community.

And when you have that many Puerto Ricans, not only in Pennsylvania, but in four marginal congressional districts in New York, I think this could really hurt him.

Watch above via CNN News Central.