Democrats and their allies in the mainstream media have been working hard to take down President Donald Trump, especially when he was the clear front runner against then President Joe Biden and then Vice President Kamala Harris for the 2024 election. Now, as Trump serves his second term, CNN's Scott Jennings got a liberal co-panelist on "The Arena with Kasie Hunt" to make a stunning admission about the crusade against the president.
Before they got to discussing Trump, Hunt and panelists discussed how there continues to be bad news for the Democratic Party in the polls, including with a recent poll from the Associated Press, as well as what things are looking like overall for 2028.
Lis Smith, who used to work for Pete Buttigieg, offered some responses. "Democrats got very much stuck in their liberal echo chamber in many different ways. We thought we were right about everything. We didn't try to reach out to different audiences. We didn't try to reach out beyond our base," she shared. Smith also acknowledged how they "dismissed" voters' concerns and thus got "creamed" on the border crisis. She even acknowledged that voters "want change." Though she has such a point, Democrats don't seem to acknowledge that.
The New York Times' Shane Goldmacher talked about how while Democrats may have been angry with Trump before, they're now angry with those in their own party. Indeed, polls not only show low approval ratings with voters overall, but with their own base. "And so, talk about the potential for an outsider, somebody who's different. Theres a real desire to have something that doesn't feel the same," he offered.
That's when Jennings spoke up with a much needed reminder. "And why are they angry? Because the party isn't being ornery enough in Washington and liberal enough? I mean, that's--that's just it, right? The lesson that the base has learned from the last election is we're just not far enough. And until you shed your allegiance to illegal aliens, boys in girls sports and higher taxes, the American people do not want this." Jennings has spoke out before at length how these are 80-20 issues that the Democrats find themselves on the wrong side on.
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"And it doesn't matter who you nominate, because if the base is going to push the nominee of the Democratic Party in those three directions, and I have no reason to believe that they won't do that in the 2028 primary, you're going to have a devil of a time convincing people that you can actually act normal," Jennings continued, sending the panel into crosstalk over such sage advice.
Dear Democrats,
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) May 16, 2025
Until you shed your allegiance to illegal aliens, boys in girls' sports and higher taxes, you're going to continue LOSING to common sense. pic.twitter.com/sPCvnnw1tV
Smith went on to mention Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who is also facing low approval numbers, including from fellow New Yorkers and fellow Democrats. He may even lose a potential 2028 primary to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
"And why Democrats are mad, why the base is mad at some of the leaders in Washington is not because they're not left enough. Its because, you know, Chuck Schumer came out with no strategy, no forewarning, and just said, were going to fold on the CR," Smith offered. Schumer's fellow Democrats, including AOC, were not too thrilled with Schumer announcing that Senate Democrats were supposedly "unified" in their refusal to support a continuing resolution (CR) in March to avoid a government shutdown, only to then cave the next day and vote the day after that to advance it.
"I mean, I think he could have done a better job of explaining what the strategy was and what we're going to do, but there wasn't anything like that. I think Democrats are learning, and I'm going to agree with you that Democrats cannot only be the party of resistance," Smith continued, which is when she made a very telling point about how Democrats handled Trump not only during his first term but leading up to the 2024 election. "We cannot--like we resisted so hard between 2017 and 2024. We impeached the guy, like we prosecuted him, convicted him of 34 felony counts. And guess what? He still got elected," she admitted. "So, I don't know how much harder we can resist right now," Smith added.
It was a point that Jennings picked right up on. As he asked to confirm, "Are you admitting that that the case against Trump in New York was part of the organized Democratic Party resistance?" Smith tried to offer that "it was a Democratic prosecutor" as her excuse. Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, who has otherwise been soft on crime, prosecuted the case, despite how the statute of limitations had expired, in addition to how he could have brought the felony charges as misdemeanors and was using an untested legal theory. Further, Matthew Coangelo, who previously worked for the Department of Justice (DOJ) under the Biden-Harris administration, left the DOJ and came to work on such a case.
Smith and even Hunt tried to catch themselves by offering that they were against such a prosecution, and that "there were Democrats who said this at the time" that it "was unwise," even that "there were a lot." Jennings reacted to such responses with laughter.
"Just to be clear, this wasn't--just to be clear. Everybody who now touts the 34 felonies, take it from Liz. This was not a real case. This was a plot to upend the presidential campaign, which backfired," Jennings added as Smith continued to blast Bragg, to laughter from Jennings.
I can't believe it. They finally admitted it on live TV:
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) May 15, 2025
The prosecution of President Trump was an organized effort by the Democratic Party "resistance."
Lawfare is real. The justice system was weaponized against President Trump. pic.twitter.com/uvMKTHcA53
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