A heated exchange erupted on CNN Monday night when Republican strategist Scott Jennings declared that America has “moved on” from the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Jennings’ comment came after Congress certified President-elect Donald Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 election. Former Biden aide Ashley Allison pushed back, claiming the country “probably won’t move on” from the riot. Jennings disagreed.
“The country has already moved on,” Jennings said, pointing to past Democratic objections to the 2000 election results. “It’s everybody today that’s having a meltdown that hasn’t moved on.”
Allison didn’t hold back. “No, we’re not having a meltdown,” she shot back. “We watched the vice president do her job, just like Mike Pence did his. Losing is hard, but that’s why you don’t want to be a loser.”
She went further, blaming Trump for his refusal to accept defeat. “He couldn’t stand up and say, ‘The country is bigger than me,’” she said. “What happened on January 6th, we’ve never seen anything like that. And God help us, we never will again.”
Van Jones added his voice to the discussion. “Trump has never given a concession speech,” the former Obama aide pointed out. “Even during the violence, he said the election was stolen.”
CNN host Abby Phillip echoed Jones’ remarks. “He literally said that as officers were being beaten,” she said, referring to Trump’s actions during the riot.
Meanwhile, CNN Data Reporter Harry Enten noted a striking detail: only 5% of Americans polled said the Capitol riot was their “biggest memory” of Trump’s first term.