Scott Jennings certainly made the rounds when it comes to memorable moments on CNN over the weekend, and while clad in his tuxedo as he was participating in festivities for the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump. While Trump will be inaugurated at noon, the failed legacy that President Joe Biden is leaving behind remains relevant, all while Trump's prospects for his second term look better and better.
During Saturday's "CNN Newsroom," Jennings was asked by host Jessica Dean how he thinks Biden "will be remembered," and referencing previous comments from political commentator Paul Begala, asked if it "won't necessarily be for the politics of it." The chyron read how "APPROVAL RATINGS: BIDEN LEAVING AT A LOW POINT, WHILE TRUMP SEES BOOST AHEAD OF INAUGURATION" as the segment took place.
"Well, I disagree with that somewhat," Jennings offered, with a reminder that Biden has been involved in politics for over 50 years. "So it is all we really know about Joe Biden is Joe Biden the politician, because that is what he has done with his life and he has been in the public eye for so long. I also, you know, he did deliver us from Trump in one election, but he delivered us Trump in '16, and he delivered Trump stronger than ever in '24," Jennings pointed out, further reminding just how strong Trump is at this time. "I mean, Donald Trump right now is at the apex of his power. He is more popular than ever. His ideology is more popular than ever."
The American people experienced the Biden-Harris administration for four years, and then had and took the chance to elect Trump once more. "And I think it is in large part because people were comparing the results of Biden and Trump won and saying, we are going back to Trump and this was a lot better than what we got under Joe Biden," Jennings pointed out. He again stressed how Biden brought us Trump. "So I think a lot of his legacy, frankly, is going to be bookended by the fact that he and Obama gave us Trump the first time, and then he gave us Trump 2.0 stronger than ever the second time," Jennings continued. "His numbers are very low. It is possible they could go up. A lot of former presidents see their numbers go up over time," he offered, providing some hope for Biden, though it might not be enough.
Can Biden's numbers go up? Like they did for Trump and George W. Bush? They could, but it's still tricky, especially because Biden's failures aren't merely on policy.
"I mean, you do get some softening of it, but he is in really bad shape and it is not all policy. You know, Joe Biden made some promises that he was going to be an honest president; he wasn't. That he was going to be a moderate president, he wasn't; and that he was going to try to restore the soul of the nation. I don't think anybody believes that he did that," Jennings said, reminding us of Biden's past promises that turned out to be complete failures.
There was a whole host of examples to bring up, including Biden pardoning his son, Hunter, which Jennings has talked about before, and which he reminded in these recent comments "did not sit well with the American people."
"So when you consider the inflation, Afghanistan, border, the pardons and really Joe Biden not living up to what he said he was going to be, I think it is going to be hard for him to make a comeback in the near term, although I admit that history sometimes is a little kinder to presidents once they are--once we've forgotten just how bad it was on their watch," Jennings continued, reminding about some of the more horrible parts of the Biden presidency, while still offering some glimmer of hope.
Like a true Democrat, Begala responded in part by claiming Trump was the liar. He even claimed that "if you want to talk about honesty, you can't be for Trump," and then went on to try to tout Biden's term. Just as plenty of other Democrats, and Biden himself have done up until the bitter end, Begala repeated a false narrative when it comes to Biden and job creation. Those jobs were people returning to work after the economy had been shuttered by the COVID pandemic, however.
Shockingly, with a straight face, Begala even touted Biden's foreign policy as well, claiming Biden "ended those forever wars," even though the withdrawal from Afghanistan was chaotic and resulted in the death of 13 U.S. servicemembers. Russia's Vladimir Putin felt emboldened to invade Ukraine and Hamas also attacked Israel, all during Biden's term.
"So peace, prosperity, honesty, civility, justice--I think he actually--he has a terrific record," Begala claimed. "By the way, my party doesn't lie about election results. When we lose, we honor that and we will have the peaceful transfer of power," he then lied as well, repeating the false narrative that fellow Democrats such as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) have made, even though Jeffries himself has denied the results of the 2016 election, though that's just one example. "So yes, I am really proud, actually, of the work Joe Biden did for our country," Begala then made clear.
Pointing out that he was on his way to a ball, Jennings had the perfect response of how he'd "like get into whatever [Begala] is drinking and the description of the Joe Biden presidency," pointing out that once Begala let him complete his thought, that "if everything you said was true, he should have had no trouble getting reelected and he should not have a 34 percent approval rating. The truth is, on so many issues, on so many issues, he failed. And not only did he fail, but he and his people were dishonest with the American people about it, telling us the border is secure when it is not, telling us that the Afghanistan pullout was a wonderful accomplishment," he continued, while Begala shook his head.
That wasn't the worst of it, though. "And most damagingly this year, last year, telling us that he was fit for office when clearly he was not and the biggest cover-up in modern political history took place on his watch and I guess at the direction of him and his top people," Jennings reminded. "That is going to live with him for a very, very long time. Even Democrats now admit that Joe Biden was not with it, and they all went along with it, too, and they have no one to blame but themselves."
Jennings pointed to Begala's remarks from earlier in the segment, that Biden should never have run for reelection, but not only did Biden try to do so, he still felt he could have won, a move that Jennings stressed "is delusional," though Biden also made remarks about Vice President Kamala Harris as well. "And the fact that he is saying Kamala Harris could have won is basically saying she ran a crap campaign. So he is left his own party in somewhat political chaos," Jennings also reminded towards the end of the segment before they all cracked jokes about Jennings' "dapper" look.
Debating the Biden legacy with Paul Begala on @cnn tonight. Biden’s failures have left his own party in chaos and Trump in the strongest position of his political life. pic.twitter.com/KazdNfM9N3
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) January 19, 2025
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