It is truly exhausting watching conservative pundits try to twist reality into a pretzel on live television.
We all saw it happen on CNN this week.
Scott Jennings, the resident conservative panelist, tried to pull a fast one regarding Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
Jennings claimed that Walz thinks investigating fraud is the same thing as “white supremacy.”
Specifically, he was talking about an investigation into $9 billion worth of alleged fraud in day care facilities.
Jennings wanted us to believe that Walz was crying racism just because the state is looking into where the money went.
But as usual with the MAGA crowd, context is apparently an optional accessory they left at home.
What Walz Actually Said
Let’s look at the actual facts provided by the reporting.
Walz gave a speech on Dec. 23.
He was defending himself, yes.
But he was also pointing out something very specific about the Trump administration.
He suggested their focus on the Somali community “smacks of racism.”
Here is exactly what Walz said:
“This is what happens when they target communities for their own benefit; this is what happens when they scapegoat, and this is what happens when they no longer hide the idea of white supremacy.”
Was he talking about auditing spreadsheets?
No.
He was talking about JD Vance.
Just two days before Walz spoke, Vance told a Turning Point USA audience something incredibly telling.
Vance said: “You don’t have to apologize for being white anymore.”
Walz was directly responding to that nonsense.
Walz even griped: “When you hear the vice president of the United States talk about ‘Now white people won’t have to apologize for being white.’ That’s never once happened in my whole damn life.”
Jennings conveniently forgot to mention that part.
He left out the fact that Walz was commenting on Vance’s weird “don’t apologize for being white” quip.
The Cheerleading Squad Arrives
But the comedy didn’t stop there.
After Jennings got corrected on air by Abby Phillip and other panelists, he went to the internet for backup.
He posted a clip that showed him getting called out.
And who comes to the rescue?
Erick Erickson.
Erickson, a self-proclaimed truth teller, decided to hop onto X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday morning.
He acted like Jennings is some sort of oracle rather than just a guy defending the GOP on cable.
Erickson actually wrote this:
“CNN needs to start each Scott Jennings appearance with a fact check where Scott said something previously, Abby and the panel insisted it was not so, and we start the next show with the video showing Scott was right the whole time.”
Talk about living in a fantasy world.
Abby Phillip Claps Back
Thankfully, Abby Phillip has zero patience for this kind of gaslighting.
She had a blunt response to Erickson’s little fan fiction.
She told him straight up: “Give me a break.”
She didn’t stop there.
She laid out exactly why Jennings and his fan club were wrong.
“He was not referring to the fraud investigations in that clip. He was talking about Trump and Vance denigrating the Somali community,” she responded.
She even added that “[There’s] plenty to criticize Walz for but he did not say that investigating fraud was akin to white supremacy.”
And just to clarify for those in the back, a Walz spokesperson told Fox News that the governor “has strengthened oversight — including launching investigations into these specific facilities.”
So, Walz is investigating the fraud.
He just also happens to think JD Vance saying white people don’t need to apologize is weird.
It is nice to see a host who won’t let the right-wing noise machine rewrite history in real time.
Give me a break, indeed.
