A fiery on-air clash erupted on CNN’s “NewsNight” as conservative commentator Scott Jennings and anti-Trump pundit Tara Setmayer went head-to-head over President Donald Trump’s record on brokering peace agreements. Setmayer dismissed Trump’s string of recent diplomatic deals as little more than smoke and mirrors — as if, she implied, the achievements existed only in the minds of his supporters.
Host Abby Phillip opened the discussion by asking Jennings whether Trump was essentially signaling to Russian President Vladimir Putin that he was willing to give in before negotiations even began. Jennings rejected the premise, saying Trump was simply being realistic about the need for a negotiated settlement.
“I don’t think there’s ever going to be a scenario where Putin goes back to Moscow and waves a white flag,” Jennings said, adding that “the NATO secretary general is acknowledging publicly that yes, there’s going to have to be some concessions here to get the war to end.”
Jennings then praised Trump’s foreign policy record, declaring, “The President has solved like seven conflicts this year. I’m willing to give him some latitude to talk to Vladimir Putin and break the deadlock… because I think that’s what we should all be praying for.”
That’s when Setmayer pushed back. “He actually hasn’t solved seven conflicts,” she said, dismissing Jennings’ claim as “pomp and circumstance.”
Apparently, the peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Thailand and Cambodia, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, India and Pakistan, Serbia and Kosovo, Egypt and Ethiopia, and the ceasefire between Israel and Iran never happened.
Jennings wasn’t going to let Setmayer get away with lying, and he called her out.
“What reality do you live in?” he shot back. “He’s literally got these guys in the White House… shaking hands. Acknowledge the man is solving peace.”
“I live on Earth, one,” Setmayer quipped, refusing to concede the point. “You can ask the countries that were involved in this whether those conflicts were actually solved by Donald Trump.”
Jennings accused her of lying, a charge Setmayer rejected. “Nobody’s lying about anything,” she insisted.
Of course, the facts weren’t on her side, so Setmayer then pivoted to one of her familiar talking points: “Donald Trump seems to have an affinity for Vladimir Putin… He’s been a useful idiot for Russia for years.”
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It’s amazing how no matter how many times the Russian collusion narrative has been exposed as a hoax, Trump haters can’t let go of it. So, Jennings countered by pointing to Trump’s recent NATO arms deal for Ukraine. “We just got NATO to do hundreds of millions of dollars of lethal weapons to Ukraine. What affinity to Russia is that?”
HOLY SMOKES: Scott Jennings just STEAMROLLED an unhinged leftist claiming Trump hasn’t mediated 7 conflicts — “WHAT REALITY DO YOU LIVE IN?!”
— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) August 12, 2025
Absolutely cooked.
The panel was melting down over Trump’s upcoming meeting with Vladimir Putin when @ScottJenningsKY dropped this:… pic.twitter.com/wKdugDpike
The left’s Trump Derangement Syndrome is so consuming that it blinds them to reality, even when the facts are staring them in the face. Peace agreements that should be cause for celebration are dismissed as “pomp and circumstance” simply because Trump is the one making them happen. This isn’t about policy or results; it’s about an irrational hatred that overrides objective judgment. As long as the left refuses to acknowledge real achievements, their credibility on foreign policy will remain as bankrupt as their arguments.
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