CNN panelist Scott Jennings mocked Vivek Ramaswamy’s jock and prom queen digs in his online screed by suggesting that perhaps the politician’s remarks might have been because he was bullied in school.
Ramaswamy and DOGE co-chair Elon Musk drew fury from hardline MAGA supporters Thursday in an online clash over H1-B visas and foreign workers, received as a dismissal of focusing on the recruitment and development of American workers.
In a lengthy online post Ramaswamy attempted to clarify his point by suggesting that “American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long.”
“A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers,” he wrote.
As panelists on CNN NewsNight unpacked the comments and backlash, host Abby Phillip asked the network’s conservative commentator for his take.
“Somebody got stuffed in a locker. I’m not going to say who,” Jennings quipped, drawing laughter from the CNN panel.
Unpacking his take on the fallout and on Ramaswamy’s remarks he continued:
Look, I think there’s a way to solve this and talk about this that doesn’t denigrate all of American culture. I mean, I’m now understanding more and more how he got 100 votes in Iowa or whatever it was he got during the Iowa caucus.
The reality is, and Elon, by the way, clarified or further explained his position later and was talking about saying, I want to bring in the top 0.1% of engineering talent from around the world. It’s like bringing in a Jokic or a Wemby’s to help your whole team. If you want to make a comparison to the NBA.
So I think, I think we can bring in the absolute top talent from around the world, and at the same time, not insult the rest of the United States of America and our culture and the way we do things here, and also lift up the American students who have the talent and who have the interest and put them in the right educational opportunities.
I think what [Ramaswamy] did today was to overtalk it. A lot of MAGA people are not happy. A lot of Republicans are not happy. And this is why Donald Trump is in the oval office.
Watch above on CNN.
