Democratic Strategist Snaps at CNN’s Scott Jennings for ‘Putting Those Words In My Mouth’
Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky snapped at CNN contributor Scott Jennings for “putting those words in my mouth” over her call to “democracy-proof” the incoming Donald Trump administration.
CNN anchor Abby Phillip’s program has become a fountain of ideological free-for-alls between provocative and ideologically opposed panelists
On Wednesday night’s edition of CNN NewsNight, Roginsky got into it with Jennings when he accused her of saying “you should somehow proof the government [from] the will of the people.”
“Thank you for putting those words in my mouth. That’s not at all what I’m saying,” Roginsky objected.
Earlier, Roginsky did say “You need to proof — democracy-proof, for lack of a better word, this coming administration,” although context would suggest she likely intended to say you need to Trump-proof democracy:
PHILLIP: So, one of the interesting things the Pod Saves guys were talking about President Biden and really making this observation that Biden has been pretty absent.
I mean, we saw Vice President Harris, but here’s what they had to say about where Joe Biden’s been.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON FAVREAU: It was more or less a standard presidential policy announcement, the main difference being Trump isn’t president yet. A fact that’s getting easier and easier to forget as Joe Biden seems to be disappearing from the public stage as his term comes to an end.
JON LOVETT: I guess what I’m more concerned about is less like am I seeing Joe Biden enough. Maybe he’s right that people don’t want to hear from him. It’s more like, do I feel confident right now that Joe Biden behind the scenes is thinking of every single way he can try to future-proof the White House.
Do I think Joe Biden himself is like at command being — thinking about this? Like right now, I don’t. I just honestly don’t.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JENNINGS: These guys, by the way, coming to this conclusion here in December, as Joe Biden is going out the door, when the rest of America came to this conclusion months and months and months and months ago is the funniest thing I’ve heard today. I mean, honestly.
PHILLIP: Can I also just say, I mean, I think the other point that Jon Lovett is making here is that, again, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris ran on Donald Trump being an existential threat to the existence of this country. He is not governing that way right now with the last few weeks that he has left. That’s very telling.
ROGINSKY: I agree. And I don’t understand why, and I wish he would. Or if he’s not, at least the people around him should be thinking about these things. You need to proof — democracy-proof, for lack of a better word, this coming administration. I mean, Donald Trump stands for everything that Joe Biden does not stand for. And if Democrats are true to their values, they will do everything they can, with the power that they have right now, which is limited, to prevent Donald Trump from doing the things that he’s already announced that he’s going to do.
SOLOMON JONES: Well, there’s that word again, values, right? It comes down to principles. What do you stand for and what are you willing to do in order to make what you stand for? The reality right now, I think that Joe Biden is doing what a president normally does in his last month. He’s issuing pardons. He’s doing commutations. He’s doing the things that you normally do. You get ready for the transition. You kind of back off a little bit.
I think the thing that’s different is that Donald Trump is really trying to act like he’s president already. And so it’s not that Biden’s doing anything different. I think that Trump is doing something different.
GAIL HUFF BROWN: Biden is on vacation right now in Delaware. I mean, I don’t know what he’s doing as president right now.
ASHLEY ALLISON: I actually worked at the White House to turn the lights off for Obama. And I do hear what you’re saying, like I think people want him to do many more executive orders. I think the reason — I’m not saying I agree with it one way or the other, but I think the reason why they’re not is because they know they will be overturned immediately.
And I will say, when we — you know, after Donald Trump won, we knew we were already going to be leaving, so we already had things in place that we were doing for our transition. But I know that there are people working there doing things that I think on the beginning in the last 20 days of his presidency, some things will still continue to get (INAUDIBLE).
JENNINGS: Are you arguing for administrative sabotage? I mean, is that what you’re saying?
ROGINSKY: No, that’s not at all what I’m arguing.
JENNINGS: You’re saying they should proof — you should somehow proof the government, the will of the people?
ROGINSKY: I — no. Oh, I’m sorry, you want to talk about the will of the people? You want to go back four years? Because we could talk about — what I’m saying, Scott — no, thank you for putting those words in my mouth. That’s not at all what I’m saying.
JENNINGS: You said proof.
ROGINSKY: What I’m saying is that we have a statement of values. I think you’re absolutely onto something. There’s a statement of values that we stand for as Democrats. And those executive orders will be overturned. But I think it is important to signal a statement of values. It is important to signal what you oppose. You oppose — it’s a lot of these anti-democratic, small D, tax that this incoming president is taking. And so if you really believe that and you’ve campaigned on it for the last four years, you need to have a statement of values that you put out there.
To your point, Scott, actually, if you want to talk about what Joe Biden believes or doesn’t believe, Joe Biden does believe in the peaceful transfer of power, something — well, you know what? Even to a fascist — if that’s what the American people voted for, even to a fascist, if that’s what the American people support. JONES: You said it, Scott.
ROGINSKY: I never said it.
Watch above via CNN NewsNight.
