A tense discussion broke out Wednesday night on CNN between a Republican strategist and a conservative political commentator during a discussion over a racist conspiracy floated by former President Donald Trump at the debate.
Scott Jennings, a senior political commentator who served as Special Assistant to former President George W. Bush, joined a panel on CNN's "Newsnight" and was asked about Trump's promotion of a conspiracy theory that Haitian immigrants are abducting and eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.
"I do think it's a legitimate conversation to have about the societal public safety health impacts anytime cities or communities get drastically changed because of our immigration system," he said. "Whether that's in Springfield, whether that's on the border with Mexico. Whether that's New York City, which has had issues. I don't think that's an illegitimate conversation to have."
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Jennings added that the "real question" is whether America has that conversation "flippantly" or "seriously."
The comment drew a quick response from fellow conservative Ana Navarro, who noted Trump wasn't being "sarcastic" or "hyperbolic" when he promoted the theory.
"He was amplifying a conspiracy theory that I think you would agree puts a target on the back of Haitian immigrants and that it is based on racism. Would you agree on that?"
After a lengthy silence, broken only by a fellow panelist noting it was based on "anti-Black racism," Navarro continued going on the offensive.
"Do you think that if there were 20,000 Scandinavians that had been sent to Springfield, the people would be saying that they're eating cats and dogs and geese?"
Jennings tried to dodge the question.
"I'm not going to answer for him, for his memes or anything else," said Jennings. "But I am —"
Navarro cut him off, insisting he answer whether the conspiracy is based on racism.
"It's a yes or no!" she said.
"Because I'm not going to answer — I don't know!" he replied, visibly flustered.
"That was a long pause, Scott," noted host Abby Phillip.
"Because I don't know the answer. And I'm not going to sit here and answer for somebody. I don't talk to Donald Trump about what the motivations are, and I don't answer to you either."
Phillip kept on Jennings, however, asking, "What is the answer for you?"
"The bottom line is immigration is a top-two issue in this election. It must be discussed. And we're either going to go down a rabbit hole here which is not the real issue, or we're going to talk about the real issues."
Navarro didn't accept the answer, pushing back that the reason the panel went down the "rabbit hole" is "the man you support is making us go down that rabbit hole."
"The reason we're not talking about the legitimate issues you have brought up is because he is claiming with no facts that Haitian migrants are eating pets! And that is a dangerous conspiracy theory to be spreading to America."
Watch the heated discussion below or at this link.
