CNN conservative commentator Scott Jennings found himself the lone defender of Donald Trump’s ideas for how to handle the decadeslong Israeli-Palestinian conflict during a panel discussion Tuesday night, which he boiled down to the president’s “musings.”
“I think we're being a little dramatic and we're on our jump to conclusions mat here a little bit,” Jennings said. “He muses, occasionally…and it's provocative.”
The moment came Tuesday during a debate on CNN’s “NewsNight” over Trump suggesting the U.S. should take control over the Gaza strip while supporting the forcible removal of the Palestinians.
But host Abby Phillip didn’t accept Jennings’ characterization of Trump’s eyebrow-raising remarks, which stirred immediate blowback in Washington.
“Look Scott, just to be clear, you're suggesting that we are making this up or overexaggerating it,” Phillip told the longtime GOP insider.
“No, I’m not suggesting anything,” Jennings respond. “No, now you're putting words in my mouth. I’m saying you and I both know, he muses occasionally, and he's aspirational, and he says provocative things occasionally.”
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Jennings, a CNN regular, scoffed when Phillip told him “I really don't want to interrupt you,” before the host proceeded to say she had to “come to my own defense here.”
“Donald Trump, with his own words, said this is what he wants to do,” Phillip told Jennings. “He wasn't musing…. he is reading a statement that was prepared for him. Those are not musings.”
Jennings concluded his spin of Trump’s dizzying series of proposals on the global stage by saying it was “an interesting conversation point.”
“Donald Trump, he's the only person in the world speaking positively about this particular geography right now,” Jennings said. “He's always thought positively and aspirational about the Middle East, and I would just ask all of you, all who are enraged about this, how's it going right now?”
