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Scott Jennings is cable TV’s ubiquitous MAGA Man of the Moment. He has a primo messaging platform on CNN, where he regularly clashes with anchors like Abby Phillip and berates liberal guests like Tiffany Cross and Neera Tanden and… well, it’s a long list. (In spite of hemorrhaging revenue and viewers, the network recently rewarded the veteran GOP political strategist with a pay raise for his conservative punditry.)
But if CNN viewers think they’re getting independent analysis from Jennings, they may be sorely disappointed. He’s been touted as a potential 2026 Senate GOP contender. And when asked about it over the weekend during the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner festivities, he made it clear: He won’t do anything without a green light from the Dear Leader.
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You can see it on his face and hear it in his voice. The network’s token conservative commentator would love to be the next senator from his home state of Kentucky. But when might he get around to announcing whether he’s waging a 2026 campaign?
“If the president wants me, I’ll run,” Jennings told a Swamp tipster at a bougie espresso martini-swilling party at the Swiss ambassador’s residence following the White House Correspondents’ bash on Saturday.
“If he wants somebody else, I’ll support that candidate,” said Jennings in his mellifluous, Southern drawl, playing the role of Kentucky statesman in his three-piece tuxedo.
Slack-jawed, our tipster asked Jennings if he thought Trump would still be keeping him and other GOP pols in line come November 2026, given the president’s historically all-time-low approval ratings amid fears of economic calamity and demise of democracy. Without hesitation, Jennings answered that yes, indeed, Trump will still have a vice-like grip over Republicans when the midterm elections roll around.
Good answer, Scott! Because the MAGA apparatchiks in Kentucky, Washington and Florida, including Vice President JD Vance and Donald Trump Jr., seem to have already picked a horse. They’re aiming to call the shots on who succeeds retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell, 83, the longest-serving Senate GOP leader in history who has served Kentucky since 1984. And the message straight from that horse’s mouth is: “If you’re asking for a permission slip to run for office here in Kentucky from Mitch McConnell, then you shouldn’t be running in the first place.”
The MAGA darling in the race so far, businessman Nate Morris, agrees with the Trumps: “The last thing Kentucky needs is another puppet for Mitch McConnell running for office.”
Jennings, 47, who grew up in western Kentucky and attended the University of Louisville, as did McConnell, was a longtime aide and adviser to the senior senator from his home state. GOP political operatives say the feisty CNN talking head would face an uphill battle proving McConnell is not his Gepetto. Trump loathes Mitch, and that grudge won’t budge. (The former Senate GOP leader condemned the president for being “practically and morally responsible” for the deadly Jan. 6 attacks on the Capitol—which, in the minds of MAGAworld never even happened, thanks to Trump’s whitewashing of history.)
“I can’t imagine Trump endorsing Jennings against Morris, even if Jennings is a good TV presence,” a veteran GOP political consultant told The Swamp.
The Swamp is written by David Gardner, Alyson Kreuger and Sarah Ewall-Wice.
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