'Are you really calling them mobs?' CNN host calls out Republican over town hall comment

CNN conservative Scott Jennings found himself at the center of a primetime pile-on that erupted after he suggested that a veteran outraged over DOGE-inspired mass firings was part of a “liberal mob” that shouted a Republican down at a chaotic town hall.

The moment unfolded Thursday on CNN’s “NewsNight” as the panel discussed the increasingly volatile town halls that have played out across the country in response to the Trump administration’s dismantling of the federal workforce. That includes Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC), who became the latest Republican lawmaker berated by angry constituents demanding answers for the president’s controversial moves.

But Jennings, a longtime GOP strategist, downplayed the most recent kerfuffle as just another display of partisan politics.

“You don't think Republicans were prepared for unhinged liberal mobs? We've been dealing with this since Donald Trump won in 2016,” Jennings said, adding: “It’s a literal mob.”

His remark triggered several on the panel to fire back to insist the display at Edwards’ town hall was not a “liberal mob” – including CNN’s Abby Phillip, who pointed out the similarities with the “real anger” at the government exposed during the Tea Party uprising in 2010.

“I’m not arguing they’re not angry,” Jennings responded. “I’m just telling you mobs like this are not representative of overall congressional districts..."

“Are you really calling them mobs,” Phillip fired back. “Ok, all right, are you going to call them mobs for doing their democratic duty, showing up at a town hall, and yelling at their elected officials? They can yell at them all they want!”

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“How dare these voters have emotions,” said Roy Wood Jr., host of CNN’s “Have I Got News for You.”

Jennings continued to defend his position throughout the tense exchange, while insisting that the outburst that unfolded at the North Carolina town hall on Thursday was “unrepresentative of that congressional district” and “of that state.”

“These are unrepresentative, unhinged mobs. I don't know what else to tell you. That's what they are,” he said.

Joining Phillip and Wood in their pushback were former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) and CNN political commentator Xochitl Hinojosa, who proclaimed to Jennings, “You guys are going to lose the midterms!”

Watch the clip below or at this link.