On Wednesday night, President Joe Biden's farewell address aired, days before President-elect Donald Trump once more takes office. The outgoing president can say whatever he likes, but polls continue to show that he won't exactly be remembered very fondly. On CNN, they had a panel reacting in real time, which included commentary from Scott Jennings.
Jennings offered that "the way [Biden's] leaving office has been, frankly, pretty terrible," which CNN's own poll released earlier that day would back up. He also spoke to how Biden is going to be remembered as president, and that it actually goes back to his time as vice president for Barack Obama. "He's going to be remembered for a few things, but politically, its mostly for when he was vice president, he and Obama sort of ushering in the Trump era initially. And then as he's leaving office as president, bringing back Trump and Trumpism stronger and more popular than ever," Jennings pointed out about Biden.
"Today, Biden has like a 61 percent disapproval," he continued, referencing that CNN poll, "and Trump is over a 50 percent approval and more popular in his ideology, is more popular than it's ever been." Jennings also had a message for Democrats, pointing out to his fellow panelists, "if everything you say is true, the Democrats should have had no trouble getting reelected in this election."
That's when Ashley Etienne, a former senior adviser to Biden and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), jumped in to claim that "it's an issue of a communications failure."
Jennings was quick to remind how we have heard this far too many times before, and that it's a losing issue for Democrats, when it comes to Biden's legacy as well as future elections. "I know, and for Democrats, it's always been about communication and no introspection about the policies that led to [Biden] leaving office as one of the most unpopular presidents," which a Gallup poll from last week also backs up.
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For one last dig of the clip, Jennings also referenced the idea that the American people were gaslit into believing Biden was fit for office, for even another term, until he suddenly wasn't. "When I watch this tonight, I remain astonished that he, his family, and other people around him thought he could ever run for another term. I mean, there's no way he could serve another six months, let alone another four years," he pointed out. "The fact that they pursued that farce for as long as they did to me, remains one of the most astonishing things about this term."
My immediate reaction to Biden’s farewell address on @cnn tonight. pic.twitter.com/7338sUo0KS
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) January 16, 2025
Later still in the segment, Jennings and Etienne got into it even further, especially as Etienne had just a moment ago warned that "we're going to see this next incoming administration that's going to continue to undermine the truth because that's a hallmark of Donald Trump."
Such a retort prompted Jennings to ask "has Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, or Karine Jean-Pierre ever lied," leading Etienne to claim "I don't know," as she even added her own inquiry of "what are you talking about," cutting Jennings off to insist, "I don't know where you are going with this." She continued to claim Trump lied.
This back and forth of Etienne cuttings Jennings off continued for a few moments, until Jennings was able to get a word in edgewise to explain his point further. "Your speech--your speech is about the truth and one thing about Biden that has always vexed Republicans is that he spends a lot of time talking about him being the center of truth in the restoration of the soul of the nation," he reminded. "And yet, he and his people spend a heck of a lot of time undermining that very talking point, up to and including this year with the massive cover up of his own condition."
Just before the 2022 midterms, Biden stood outside of Independence Hall in Philadelphia with a blood red backdrop to denigrate his political enemies for that Battle for the Soul of the Nation speech. More recently, as Biden got closer to what was supposed to be his own reelection fight, the White House, including and especially Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre were instrumental in gaslighting the American people about the president's condition. She, and Democratic allies in the mainstream media tried to insult the American people into believing that video evidence of Biden's loss of mental faculties amounted to "cheap fakes."
To call it a "massive cover up," as Jennings did, is putting it quite perfectly. A poll released not long after Biden was forced out of the race showed that strong majorities indeed thought Vice President Kamala Harris, Biden's family, as well as White House staff, and to a smaller majority, the media, were complicit.
No matter how strong and relevant Jennings' points were, though, Etienne still insisted on bringing up ridiculous talking points we've heard many times from Democrats, including how Trump supposedly "lied to the American people during COVID," insisting she "could go on and on" as she brought up narratives that have been debunked at length. Etienne even put 500,000 lost lives on Trump for his supposed lack of honesty.
Such a bold claim was not one Jennings was just going to sit by and take, as he asked, "are you saying the virus was listening to Donald Trump?" Etienne claimed she was not, only that her "point is that lies have consequences," which she went on to claim is that "what Donald Trump's words did was prevented people from protecting themselves," leading her to again mentioning that "500,000 plus people lost their lies" as they argued about Trump.
"I just want to make sure I understand that your position is, is that Donald Trump's words induced the virus to kill people," Jennings wished to make clear, which Etienne somehow denied.
The panel discussion got more ridiculous from there, as Etienne further insisted that her point was, "more importantly, because of his lies, he didn't create an infrastructure... to get the economy open again," when it was under the Trump administration, as Jennings reminded, a vaccine was developed. Further, it was Democrats who insisted on keeping the economy shuttered with lockdowns.
"So lies have consequences. And that's what Biden was talking about today," Etienne insisted, defending the outgoing president until the bitter end. "We have to be aware of that."
As Jennings aptly responded, "this is crazy. I'm sorry. This is insane." At that point, Jake Tapper brought a close to the show.
Beyond shamefully blaming Trump for COVID deaths using debunked narratives seems to be par for the course for such Democrats. It's even more telling, though, that Etienne forced the discussion away from the massive cover up involved about Biden's condition in doing so. In a way, it also makes the gaslighting that much worse.
CNN’s @ScottJenningsKY schools former Kamala aide Ashley Etienne for praising Biden lamenting the decline of trust in the media and then hurling disproven lies about Donald Trump: “Has Joe Biden, Kamala Harris or Karine Jean-Pierre ever lied?...Your speech is about the truth and… pic.twitter.com/pgspP7JK7w
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 16, 2025
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