CNN Republican commentator Scott Jennings mocked Governor Tim Walz (D-MN) as a “buffoon” ahead of Tuesday evening’s scheduled vice presidential debate between Walz and Senator JD Vance (R-OH).
Jennings took part in a panel discussion during Sunday morning’s broadcast of “State of the Union,” and he pushed back on claims from former Kamala Harris spokesperson Ashley Etienne — who argued that Walz was uniquely able to help the vice president reach out to “disaffected Republicans.
Anchor Jake Tapper started off the exchange by saying that he couldn’t remember a time when the vice presidential candidates from the two major parties disliked each other as much as Vance and Walz appeared to, but he also wondered if the vice presidential picks had ever been as “consequential” as they seem to be in the 2024 election cycle.
Etienne piggy-backed on that by first claiming that Vance was a drag on former President Donald Trump’s ticket and then arguing that Walz — a decidedly liberal governor who has signed off on legislation that guaranteed males the right to change in women’s locker rooms and to play on their sports teams — could reach the moderate demographics that Harris herself has struggled to reach.
