CNN lit a match Wednesday night and watched it burn when Scott Jennings, their go-to conservative brawler, flattened former MSNBC host Tiffany Cross with a personal jab during a so-called debate on “NewsNight with Abby Phillip.”
What could’ve been a real talk about President Donald Trump’s trade moves devolved into a predictable clown show, proving cable news thrives on insults, not insight.
The mess started over Trump’s tariff pause—easing up everywhere but China. Cross, trying to flex, brought up Trump’s 2019 Greenland pipedream, calling it a “colonizer’s attitude” to snatch what he wanted.
Jennings, the panel’s MAGA lone wolf, wasn’t playing. “What do you mean by ‘steal’?” he shot back, baiting her. Cross took a swing, labeling him “irrelevant” in a limp dig that landed flat, then rambled about land-grabbing vibes.
Jennings didn’t hesitate. “You got fired from your job. How relevant are you?” he fired, a cold-blooded nod to MSNBC dumping her “Cross Connection” in 2022. It was a knockout.
Scott Jennings drops bomb on Tiffany Cross
Cross wagged a finger and mumbled something about weak arguments, but the damage was done. Jennings smirked, Richard Quest nearly snorted, and Abby Phillip just let the chaos roll.
The tariff thing? Jennings backed it, calling China an “enemy” propped up by “slave labor.” Cross countered that they’re still our top trade partner—fair point, but she couldn’t stick the landing. Instead, it turned into a petty grudge match, and nobody learned a damn thing.
Social media ate it up—half cheering Jennings’ slam, half whining he dodged the issue. Same old split.
But let’s be real: this wasn’t about tariffs or trade. It was about two talking heads clawing for a viral clip. Jennings, a Kentucky scrrapper who’s been CNN’s token right-winger since 2017, knows the game. Cross, once MSNBC’s loudmouth darling, flailed trying to keep up.
Cable news doesn’t give a rip about informing anymore. Ratings come from conflict, not facts.
Trump’s tariff pause—excluding China while sparing others—could’ve sparked a real convo about trade wars and global stakes. Instead, we got Cross lobbing a weak “irrelevant” jab and Jennings dropping a nuke. Quest and Phillip didn’t even pretend to steer it back; they just leaned into the circus.
This is the racket now. Networks like CNN can’t survive on dry policy chats—they need blood in the water.
Jennings thrives in it, turning a nothing debate into a highlight reel. Cross’ “irrelevant” line was a dud—she’s got no juice to back it—and her stumble just fed the beast. The panel’s a pressure cooker by design, and Wednesday was peak feeding frenzy.
Trump’s move gave them something meaty: China’s a trade giant, sure, but Jennings isn’t wrong about the “enemy” angle when you factor in labor abuses.
That’s a story worth digging into. Too bad we got a slap fight instead. Cross couldn’t hang, and Jennings didn’t need to—he just had to swing harder.
In the end, nobody settled squat about trade. Jennings landed the haymaker, Cross ate dirt, and the crowd picked teams. It’s not news—it’s a cage match with worse haircuts. Cable’s hooked on this junk because it’s all they’ve got left. Conflict sells; substance starves. Wednesday’s “NewsNight” was just another ringmaster act, and we’re all suckers for watching.
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