CNN resident villain Scott Jennings makes panel’s heads explode with claim about firefighters battling LA fires

CNN panelists faced off Wednesday over the recent politicization of the Los Angeles wildfires.

Pundit Scott Jennings called Donald Trump’s recent comments justified, earning the wrath of a left-leaning US representative from Texas.

Elsewhere, figures like Megyn Kelly took to the airwaves separately to accuse officials of having prioritized DEI training over making preparations. 

Trump aired that claim again Thursday, after firefighters fighting the flames were forced to deal with hydrants that had little to no water. Officials in response have blamed ‘tremendous demand.’

California Governor Gavin Newsom accused him of attempting to ‘politicize’ the tragedy, as the fire quickly became the most destructive in the state’s history.

On the set of CNN’s NewsNight, those claims culminated into an argument, when Jennings made a point against the state’s diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.

He honed in on a 2023 report about a tax-payer-funded bid to diversify California’s fire departments, then said to have been dominated by white males.

He concluded Newsom’s progressive politics were at least in part to blame, earning a visible reaction from host Abby Phillip, South Dakota Rep. Dusty Johnson, and Dallas Democrat Jasmine Crockett. The latter took particular issue, launching a response.

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‘We are looking at qualifications,’ the 43-year-old representative from Texas’s 30th congressional district began.  

‘What diversity, equity, and inclusion has always been about, is saying, “You know what, open this up,”‘ she went on. ‘”Don’t just look at the white men. Open it up and recognize that other people can be qualified.”‘

She went on to claim that if people from various backgrounds ‘have been good enough to build this country, we are good enough to serve and die overseas, we are good enough to serve in other ways.’

The Missouri-born former lawyer then seemed to suggest Jennings had gotten his assessment wrong, before offering him some curt advice.

‘Stop trying to act as if only white men are the ones that are capable – because right now, you’re sitting at a table with three very capable black women.’

The latter came in reference to herself, Phillip, and final panelist Stacey Plaskett, the Democratic rep from the Virgin Islands.

Jennings, however, did not back down, claiming Crockett had gotten his comments wrong.

‘I’m not,’ the strategist who has surfaced as the station’s resident Republican said. ‘I’m just simply saying that as a matter of public policy in California, the main interest in the fire department lately has been in DEI programing and budget cuts.’

This led Phillip to ask Jennings, ‘Are we really blaming the fire department? The LA fire department?’

The conservative commentator clarified: ‘No, I’m blaming the Democrats who run the state.’

Earlier on, he told those at table that ‘if [he] were a California Democrat, [he] would also be screaming politicization, because [he] wouldn’t want anybody drawing attention to my management of this or decision-making.’ 

‘I don’t think it’s politicizing anything to draw attention to public policy choices, and whether the governor, or whether the mayor of LA, whether you’re looking at things that happen in the city, such as cutting the firefighter budget.

‘They can’t manage to build water storage, which would have come in handy on this,’ he continued, as city and state officials have been somewhat at a loss as to how a crisis of such magnitude occurred. 

‘I think if I lived out there, I would have these questions right now, too,’ Jennings, 47, continued.

‘Congress, by the way, is going to spend a bunch of money here, which they’re going to need to do, some of these issues need to be addressed.’ 

He went on to declare that the timing of Trump’s comments – which some have criticized – was a good thing, saying, ‘I think, most taxpayers are going to want to see policy changes so that we don’t have to repeat of this in the future.’

Kelly, meanwhile, used her podcast to make similar claims, publicly accusing Los Angeles’ fire chief, Kristin Crowley, of ‘focusing on diversity’ instead of planning for such a disaster. 

She went on to point to a recent interview in which Crowley expressed desire to boost the number of women and LGBTQ+ people in the service, leading to an expletive-filled response. 

‘Who gives a s**t if the fire chief is gay,’ she said. ‘We don’t care about your lady parts and we don’t care who you want having access to them – can you fight fires, can you make sure there’s water in the fire hydrants?’

As she spoke, walls of fire engulfed entire neighborhoods, all while LA’s Democratic mayor, Karen Bass, faced criticism for taking a trip to Africa before the fire broke out – and a blundering press conference issued Wednesday upon her return.

‘If you need help, emergency information, resources, and shelter is available. All of this can be found at URL,’ the mayor told onlookers, providing no website address afterward. 

She cut her city’s fire department budget by a staggering $17.6 million this financial year, records show.

The fire, meanwhile, continues to burn, with more than 1,000 structures affected and more than 130,000 under evacuation orders or warnings. Photos and time-lapse videos have shown the sheer extent of the destruction.