A Republican strategist found himself on the wrong end of pushback on CNN late Thursday as he tried to insist universities are screening out viewpoints that "don't adhere to your anti-Western civilization world views."
Scott Jennings, a frequent commentator on CNN's "NewsNight and other programs, briefly sparred with host Abby Phillip and guest panelist Jamele Hill, a contributing writer at The Atlantic.
Phillip asked Jennings how it's not "weaponization" when President Donald Trump threatens to go after universities. The administration has already frozen more than $2 billion in federal grants and contracts to Harvard University, and recently threatened to revoke the university's tax-exempt status, arguing it should not receive federal assistance and accusing it of promoting antisemitism.
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“I think Harvard’s a disgrace,” Trump told reporters Thursday.
But Jennings disagreed with Phillips' characterization of "weaponization."
"I think Trump's supporters and the people who put him in office would say that he's not turning the government into a weapon, he's turning it into a shield," said Jennings, specifying a shield against immigration and using tax dollars for "ridiculous purposes."
"All of these things that you mentioned, you may call them weaponization, but a lot of people would say we need a shield against a lot of these bad actors," he said.
Phillip pushed back, accusing Jennings of not answering her question and ignoring the president's threat that Trump is threatening to revoke universities' tax-exempt status if they fail to admit a sufficient number of conservatives.
But Jennings doubled down that Trump isn't attacking — he's defending.
"Regarding the universities, first of all, he's creating, I think, a shield for the Jewish students on campus who have been the victim of horrible anti-semitism. And he's saying to these universities, you cannot simply screen out all viewpoints that don't adhere to your anti-Western civilization world view," Jennings said.
Phillip wasn't having it.
"No one is doing that," she replied, to which Jennings shot back, "Absolutely they are."
"No, no, they're not. What is your evidence?" she said, brow furrowed.
As the rest of the panel shouted over each other, demanding Jennings back up the claim, he resorted to personal experience.
"I've been on a college campus recently, and I can certainly use my eyes and ears," Jennings said, as Hill tried to talk over him. "These are hotbeds of anti-American and anti-Western civilization activity, and everybody knows it. And there's no dissent on these campuses because everyone's afraid."
Hill shot back that "MAGA now wants DEI," referring to diversity, equity and inclusion, which conservatives have long attacked, and fired back there's "no proof they're actually being excluded."
"Ninety-six percent of contributions from Harvard faculty went to Democrats. What else you got?" Jennings retorted, adding: "I used to teach there. Believe me, I know. I was treated like an exotic zoo animal. Trust me. The faculty is not conservative, believe me."
"Oh I'm sure," Hill replied in a sarcastic tone. "Okay, so at Harvard, I just imagined all of these conservative politicians that go there, they go there because they don't feel welcome? They just go there to go there?"
"If you're trying to come on here tonight and argue that Harvard is a hotbed of conservatism —" Jennings began, but Hill insisted that wasn't her point.
"I'm not. I'm just saying that they're not. So are we going to do the same thing at Baylor? Are we going to do the same thing at Liberty? Are we going to invite more liberal thought to those universities?" she responded.
"I think if public universities or any university taking public funds is violating the civil rights of Jewish students or actively screening out conservatives and conservative viewpoints, we need to have a conversation," Jennings concluded.
Watch the clip below or at this link.
