As Townhall has been covering, Scott Jennings has certainly been a breath of fresh air as a conservative on CNN, often presenting much needed reminders and revelations going into the 2024 election, and especially now that the American people have voted and presented a resounding victory to Republicans. Jennings himself has reminded how much of a "mandate" President-elect Donald has. On Monday night, Jennings may have offered his best reminder yet, though, as he pointed out to his fellow panelists on "CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip" about how ideologically balanced X actually is as a social media platform.
During a conversation Cari Champion, a fellow panelist, did not take it too well having to be reminded what CNN's Harry Enten had just revealed last week. As Champion herself pointed out, the segment had just begun. The segment was supposed to be discussing how Elon Musk had bought X, then named Twitter, and rebranded it, and now may be interested in buying MSNBC.
Elon Musk is winning, even if his popularity ratings are down.
— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) November 19, 2024
He's remade X/Twitter in his image... Turning it from a Democratic bastion to one that is far more evenly divided (& friendlier to the GOP).
Moreover, Musk's wealth has ballooned in ways that are tough to imagine. pic.twitter.com/CobSoYuiaY
As the panelists debated the idea of Musk actually buying MSNBC, which for now appears to be just chatter, Jennings wondered, "is the concern that certain media outlets would become propaganda arms of political ideologies? I mean, don't we already have that in this country at a large scale?"
Jennings then pointed to a survey of how X is "now the most ideologically balanced user platform of any platform," though Champion cut him off as he made such an objective point. "Oh, come on," she insisted. "Scott, stop. Stop. It's too early. I just sat down. I've only been here for two minutes." She went on to dictate to Jennings that "you cannot say that." Ironically, she herself had claimed just a moment before that "I don't think free speech is going to be as free."
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"You're going to be embarrassed when I tweet that after the show, but it's true," Jennings accurately foreshadowed during the crosstalk.
Even more embarrassing is how Audie Cornish, who was hosting that night, asked for the source, with Jennings pointing out that CNN was the one to report on it, as Champion shot back, "it's not accurate, and you know it." While Jennings calmly noted, "okay, I'll let you make your statement," he was certainly vindicated, as he himself reminded by sharing a clip over X on Tuesday.
When I said on @cnn last night that @X is the most ideologically balanced platform, folks weren’t happy. Survey says… pic.twitter.com/VXVEbvwd38
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) November 26, 2024
As the segment continued, Cornish, after Jennings had just reminded her of what their own network reported about X, looked to move on to "reframe it in a different way," claiming, "the site changed radically."
"So, whether you think the voices are somehow more balanced now, that's fine. But no doubt, Musk's influence is profound and that you open it up, and now you're there with his opinion, and he is now part of this administration," she went on to say about Musk's role with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). "So, does anyone else think that there should be this greater concern about billionaires purchasing media companies?" Cornish asked. National Review's Jim Geraghty went on to ask if the panelists would be "worried if Bill Gates controlled MSNBC," with Champion insisting, "no, because he's sane!"
As Geraghty also went on to remind, though, the "MS in MSNBC comes from Microsoft. It was a partnership between Microsoft and NBC way back in the 1990s, back when Microsoft was under investigation by Bill Clinton's DOJ for Monopoly. I don't remember anybody panicking over MSNBC back then."
The segment has certainly gotten plenty of attention and has been trending over X. Larry, in his latest episode, also discussed Jennings' "victory lap" over his fellow panelists. Musk was also among those who chimed in to mock the network.
The mockery is not the only bad news for CNN as of late. The network's ratings, as well as those of MSNBC, have taken quite the dive, especially after the election.
Listen to the end of the clip lmao https://t.co/Tll2K9yk2G
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 26, 2024
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