Scott Jennings Battles CNN Panel: ‘You Cannot Say Trump Is Sending the Military to Shoot or Round up Citizens’

McGOWAN: “I have a lot of faith in our military. I have a lot of respect for our military. I have a lot of respect for Pete‘s service. But that‘s not how the military is supposed to be used. I don‘t want to be bringing back waterboarding. I don‘t want to be a country that tortures people, especially if we‘re the kind of country that‘s going to be using the military against our own citizens.”
JENNINGS: “Wait, what does that — “
McGOWAN: “This kind of thing concerns me.”
JENNINGS: “What do you mean, used against our own citizens?”
McGOWAN: “I‘m talking about sending — “
JENNINGS: “You said ‘make blue states behave.’ What do you mean? What are you talking about?”
McGOWAN: “I’m talking about sending the military into blue states to make them behave. Getting Gavin Newsom under control. Getting JB Pritzker under control, making sure — “
JENNINGS: “What are you talking about?”
McGOWAN: “I’m talking about things that Donald Trump has actually said.”
JENNINGS: “What do you mean, like, sending them to the state capital to commandeer the state government?”
McGOWAN: “I mean, I hope not, but I‘m definitely — he‘s definitely talked about that. I don‘t know why you‘re acting like you‘ve never heard this before.”
PHILLIP: “He has talked about using the military to suppress, in the Black Lives Matter era, those protests in the street.”
McGOWAN: “Yes. He was there himself.”
Jones: “I think it’s disingenuous to act like we don‘t know what she‘s talking about, to act like he hasn‘t said this. We know what he said. We all heard him say it. And so that‘s what it is. The military is only as good as the people who are running it. Pete Hegseth has talked about putting things back in place that have not been policy for the United States, because they‘re wrong. And so we have to decide, are we going to do what‘s right or are we going to do what — what Donald Trump wants us to do when we know that it‘s wrong?”
JENNINGS: “Can I just make sure I understand your position, that you believe Donald Trump is going to use the military to set up, effectively, like, coups in state capitals of states that he didn‘t win?”
PHILLIP: “Scott, I think you’re taking it a step or two — “
JENNINGS: “No, she said ‘make blue states behave.’ And she also said ‘round up immigrants.’ That’s not true. It’s deport the illegal immigrants.”
McGOWAN: “Scott, I don‘t know why you‘re acting — no, let’s — “
PHILLIP: “I’m sorry, hold on. Hold on. I mean, look, let‘s — I think you‘re right. Let‘s be precise. Trump has wanted to use the military to do things domestically that actually the military is not allowed to do. I think that‘s the point that she‘s making.”
JENNINGS: “Like what?”
PHILLIP: “Like deport illegal immigrants. That is actually not a function of the military.”
JENNINGS: “The military can absolutely be used to work with local officials to provide military resources, but working with other parts of the federal government and local officials. We already send the National Guard to the border.”
McGOWAN: “Not against the will of the local officials, or the will of the state government.”
JENNINGS: “Oh, yes. Oh, yes, we can.”
McGOWAN: “We have a federalist government here.”
PHILLIP: “Scott, you know as well as I know — “
McGOWAN: “Oh, so you‘re saying exactly what Trump is saying, ‘Oh, yes, we can. We can do it against the government’s will.’”
PHILLIP: “When the National Guard gets sent to the border, they‘re sent for tactical and sometimes just providing material support to the border officials. They’re not there rounding up migrants. But Donald Trump has been pretty clear, that‘s his vision. And people who understand the law around these things say that — I mean, maybe I should point to the lawyer, we have two lawyers at the table, but, look, it‘s going to be an issue that‘s litigated if he tries to do it, there‘s no question about that.”
Jones: “The military is not supposed to take up arms against American citizens.”
JENNINGS: “They’re not. You keep saying that. This is about illegal immigration. You all keep saying American citizens. It’s about illegal immigrants.”
Jones: “Well, how do we know if they’re illegal or not? We know after they’re shot?”
JENNINGS: “We have 1.6 — “
Jones: “We know after they die?”
JENNINGS: “We have 1.6 million people in this country who have already received immigration deportation orders from courts.”
McGOWAN: “Scott, you’re on to illegal immigration. That’s not the point.”
Jones: “It’s always back to illegal immigration with people who support Donald Trump. It‘s always back to illegal immigration. But that‘s not — that‘s not the only thing that we‘re talking about here. We‘re talking about the American people. We‘re talking about taking up arms against them with a military that‘s supposed to be protecting them.”
JENNINGS: “No. No. This is not right. You cannot say Donald Trump is sending the military to round up — “
McGOWAN: “That‘s what he said.”
Jones: “That’s what he said. That‘s not what I‘m saying.”
JENNINGS: “Totally false.”
Jones: “He said that.”
JENNINGS: “Totally false.”
Jones: “That‘s what he said.”
PHILLIP: “Scott, Scott — “
JENNINGS: “We are in the fever swamps, Abby, I‘m sorry.”
PHILLIP: “What is your dispute here? I’m not really even understanding.”
JENNINGS: “Because they‘re saying that he‘s sending the military to shoot and/or round up American citizens. Not true.”
McGOWAN: “We did not say shoot people, Scott.”
JENNINGS: “You just said — he just said, ‘Take up arms.’”
[Cross-talk]
Jones: “I did say take up arms because when you send the army in, that‘s what they‘re there for.”