GOP strategist Scott Jennings was confronted on CNN Sunday with claims that President Donald Trump’s grip on the Republican Party was weakening, claims that Jennings attempted to downplay with a novel deflection.
“He has lost the command and control of his caucus of the Republican Party,” said Kate Bedingfield, political commentator and former White House communications director under the Biden administration.
“We're seeing increasing splits on key issues; they're divided on health care, there's this question of Israel [that] is absolutely ripping the new right, and so when you have lost control of your party, giving these rambling speeches that maybe leave some question as to whether you're totally in command, that is an issue that's going to keep compounding on itself.”
Trump has been defied by GOP lawmakers several times in the past few weeks. Indiana Republicans openly rejected Trump’s push for them to redraw their congressional map, the GOP-controlled House blocked Trump’s attempt to strip federal workers of bargaining rights, and 12 House Republicans ended up supporting a measure to fund Obamacare subsidies against the president’s wishes.
Nevertheless, Jennings pushed back on Bedingfield’s read of Trump’s influence among the GOP, claiming that Trump has “never been stronger among Republicans than he is right now.”
“Is that why he spent six months fighting his party on the Epstein files?” Bedingfield asked Jennings.
“The Clinton files!” Jennings said in response. “The Clinton files! I'm sorry, I saw the pictures: the Clinton files!”
Bedingfield sarcastically quipped back at Jennings to underscore that former President Bill Clinton’s appearance in the Epstein files had no bearing on whether Trump’s grip on the GOP was waning.
“Yes, because it's Bill Clinton who's really suffered for the last six months in terms of [the] shattering of his coalition and inability to govern,” she said. “Yes, absolutely Scott.”