Conservative CNN commentator Scott Jennings clashed with co-panelist Bakari Sellers during a heated debate on inflation and grocery prices. Jennings snapped at Sellers, telling him, “Don’t touch me,” after Sellers tapped his arm while accusing President-elect Donald Trump of “lying” on the issue.
The tense exchange unfolded during a segment on "NewsNight with Abby Phillip," where the panel discussed the price of energy and groceries.
“I wouldn't mistake why Trump won the election,” CNN’s conservative voice Scott Jennings said. “There was anger at Biden and Harris for their policies that caused inflation. And, of course, Trump is saying, 'I would like to bring prices down,' during the election. But the real anger in the electorate was and will remain with the administration that oversaw the huge inflation in the first place.”
Naturally, the leftists on the panel pushed back on this claim, but Jennings held firm: “If he brings energy prices down and if he takes — if he keeps — if he extends the tax cuts, and he generally implements an economic climate in which incomes can rise and certain things do come down, and he tells the American people the truth about what he's doing the entire time, I think, politically, it will be okay.”
Jeff Bartos, a former Trump campaign senior adviser, also agreed that Trump can successfully ease the burden of inflation, pointing out that “real wage growth under the first Trump administration was the best we'd seen in 50 years,” and that Trump “has a track record and he knows the playbook and he can play that again.”
Bartos added that “working families did better, even than higher-income families did, under the first Trump administration, and they will again under the second Trump administration.”
That’s when Bakari Sellers jumped in with the usual anti-Trump take.
“Can we level set just for a moment? All right, Donald Trump lied. That's first,” he said. “Let me just clearly state what he lied about, just so we're on the same page here, all right? During the campaign, Donald Trump said that he was going to bring prices down. Today, he simply said, you know what, those prices, particularly grocery prices, are not going to come down.”
That’s actually not what he said. In his Time Magazine interview, Trump said, “It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up. You know, it’s very hard… But I think that they will. I think that energy is going to bring them down.”
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“I think a better supply chain is going to bring them down,” Trump continued. “You know, the supply chain is still broken.”
Sellers continued by saying that Jennings was “50% correct” and conceded that Democrats had a messaging issue on inflation.
“What Scott was not accurate about, which kind of happens around the table sometimes,” Sellers continued, putting a hand on Jennings’ shoulder, “although I know you want to be—”
“Don't touch me," Jennings snapped.
“I can't touch you?” Sellers asked.
“All right. Everyone, keep your hands to yourself at the table,” Abby Phillip interjected.
Jennings: “Don’t touch me”
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) December 13, 2024
Bakari Sellers: “I can’t touch you?”
Abby Phillip: “All right, everybody, keep your hands to yourselves”
pic.twitter.com/9TuXXAFI7A
I don’t know if Jennings was joking when he snapped at Sellers, but his body language suggested he was very much not thrilled with the gesture. It's understandable, with Sellers's poor attempt to dispute him.
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