Scott Jennings sent a CNN panel off the rails during a debate about President Donald Trump’s tariffs when he chose to personally attack an ex-MSNBC host for getting cut from the network.
The sole MAGA member of the NewsNight with Abby Phillip panel was engaged in a feisty to-and-fro with Tiffany Cross, who hosted The Cross Connection from 2020 to 2022, until her highly rated weekend morning show was canceled.
She was reminded of this by Jennings as they spoke about Trump’s desires to take the island of Greenland from Denmark for “national security.”
Jennings told Cross he never said he wanted to “colonize” the territory when the latter told the panelist he was “irrelevant” because she was actually referring to the president.
Turning to personal taunts, Jennings then slapped back: “You got fired from your job. How relevant are you?”
Cross managed to remain composed in the face of the attack and continued with her point after saying: “What you lack in a legitimate point, you make up for in personal insults.”
Jennings smiled and rolled his eyes, as CNN International host Richard Quest appeared to laugh at the jibe.
The flashpoint came about after a chat about new trade relationships in the face of tariffs possibly isolating the U.S. from traditional trading partners. Greenland, and Trump’s attitude towards “taking” it, came up as a topic.
“It’s a colonizer’s attitude to say, I like it, I’m just gonna steal it,‘” Cross said, before Jennings snipped: “Steal what?”
“Land, land,” Cross replied. “You cannot just go and say, ‘I like it, it’s mine now.’ It doesn’t work that way. That is what they’re trying to do. And in this new world order—”
“What?” Jennings chuckled, condescendingly. Cross repeated that there “is a very colonizer attitude” about the Trump administration’s designs on Greenland.
“I have never, ever said we’re going to go to Greenland and colonize it or steal it. That’s crazy,” Jennings said, taking Cross’s point personally.
Then came the most tense part of the exchange, as Cross said: “I’m not even talking about you. You’re not a member of government. So you’re irrelevant on that point. I’m talking about the president of the United States.”
Jennings then took things nuclear with his “fired” jibe.
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