Scott Jennings, CNN's resident conservative panelist, demolished former MSNBC host Tiffany Cross during a segment of "CNN NewsNight" on Wednesday. The segment, which began as a discussion on trade and foreign policy, quickly spiraled into a heated showdown after Cross launched into a rant without wanting to be challenged, only to be met with Jennings’s calm but cutting rebuttals that exposed just how out of her depth she was.
It all started when political strategist Shermichael Singleton raised a hypothetical scenario: “What happens if we ever have a military conflict with China and they say, 'You know what, we’re going to put an arms embargo on anything shipping to the United States. We’re going to stop everything.' What happens then?”
CNN anchor Abby Phillip tried to steer the conversation toward diplomacy, asking, “Wouldn’t you think that what we would want is to build trading relationships with people who like us?” But Singleton pushed back, saying, “If you have fair trade relationships that benefit the United States, not our friends, that’s not a good friendship. That’s an abusive relationship.”
Phillip objected to recent U.S. tariffs on traditional allies like Britain and France. “What happened over the last week was that we said we’re going to treat Britain and France and the E.U. like China,” she argued. “Does that make any sense to you?”
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Singleton countered, “It doesn’t make sense to me that our friends across the globe have a benefit to trading with the United States and American workers do not.”
Richard Quest, a British journalist and news anchor for CNN International, noted that while rebalancing trade might be necessary, “you don’t do it overnight and you don’t offend your allies.”
That’s when things took a sharp turn.
Cross, ignoring the economic discussion, launched into an unrelated tirade. “It’s a colonizer’s attitude to say, 'I like it, I’m just going to steal it,'” she ranted. She referenced Greenland and accused U.S. leadership of treating foreign land like “it’s mine now.”
Jennings calmly asked, “Steal what?”
“Land, land,” Cross replied, her voice rising. “You cannot just go and say, 'I like it. It’s mine now.'”
Jennings, unfazed, responded, “I have never, ever said we’re going to go to Greenland and, quote, colonize it or steal it.”
Cross, apparently realizing she was wrong, resorted to a personal attack on Jennings to justify ignoring what he was saying. “You’re not a member of government, so you’re irrelevant at that point," she said. "I’m talking about the president of the United States doing it.”
Jennings, clearly fed up with her essentially refusing to accept his contributions to the discussion, shot back, “You got fired from your job; how relevant are you?” a referring to Cross getting fired from MSNBC.
Cross didn’t like that. “Scott, if you want to engage in personal insults—”
“I don’t, but you do,” Jennings replied, refusing to let her set the tone.
Cross, now flailing, accused the administration of isolating America on the world stage. Jennings quickly refuted her again, saying, “No, we’re not.”
Things got heated between Tiffany Cross and Scott Jennings on CNN tonight.
— Thomas Hern (@ThomasMHern) April 10, 2025
"You got fired from your job." pic.twitter.com/umsAtabq7G
What stood out in the exchange wasn’t just the content but Jennings’ ability to remain cool under fire. While Cross brought on the sass and disrespect that descended into partisan theatrics and rhetorical overreach, he maintained his composure, challenged falsehoods, and refused to be baited.
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