What happened: On CNN NewsNight, Kate Bolduan moderated a heated exchange between GOP analyst Scott Jennings and former Trump aide Miles Taylor about President Donald Trump and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s dispute over the Epstein Files. Key clash: Taylor revived Jennings’s decade-old 'authoritarian' remark and called Trump 'the man with the heart and soul of a fascist,' while Jennings fired back, 'He’s not a fascist.' Takeaway: The segment underscored sharp partisan and intra-party divisions and featured repeated interruptions and accusations about executive overreach and loyalty.
‘He’s Not a Fascist’: Scott Jennings and Miles Taylor Clash on CNN Over Decade-Old 'Authoritarian' Remark
What happened: On CNN NewsNight, Kate Bolduan moderated a heated exchange between GOP analyst Scott Jennings and former Trump aide Miles Taylor about President Donald Trump and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s dispute over the Epstein Files. Key clash: Taylor revived Jennings’s decade-old 'authoritarian' remark and called Trump 'the man with the heart and soul of a fascist,' while Jennings fired back, 'He’s not a fascist.' Takeaway: The segment underscored sharp partisan and intra-party divisions and featured repeated interruptions and accusations about executive overreach and loyalty.
01:34 AM, 11/16/2025Politics
Heated Exchange on CNN NewsNight Over Trump Remark
On Friday night’s edition of CNN NewsNight, guest anchor Kate Bolduan moderated a tense on-air confrontation between CNN GOP analyst Scott Jennings and former Trump administration official Miles Taylor. The segment — sparked by President Donald Trump’s feud with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) over the Epstein Files — quickly turned personal when Taylor revived a decade-old comment in which Jennings had called Trump an 'authoritarian.'
Taylor argued that the earlier characterization had proven prescient and accused Trump of showing 'the heart and soul of a fascist,' pointing to recent moves such as investigations into political opponents and members of his own party. Jennings pushed back sharply, at one point declaring, 'He’s not a fascist,' and defended his record of supporting Trump, saying he had voted for him three times.
BOLDUAN: Is there an example of anyone beating Donald Trump at this game?
SCHNEIDER: Never. This is his game and he’s great at it, and she is barking up a tree that she says is going to fall on her really hard.
JENNINGS: You know, it’s interesting, he has some people who profess to be strong supporters who do oppose him more often than the people that you might not think are his strongest supporters. She’s one of them. Thomas Massie in Kentucky is another one. Rand Paul, my home state senator, he takes on Trump, although they professed to be Trump’s supporters in this case. I think he had the order out of order.
The exchange featured repeated interruptions and sharp cross-talk. Taylor traced her unease with Trump back 10 years to Jennings’s 'authoritarian' label and said recent developments vindicated that warning. Jennings countered by criticizing Taylor for what he described as attempts to subvert an elected president — a charge she acknowledged and defended.
Beyond sharp rhetoric, the segment highlighted intra-party divisions: Jennings named Republican figures such as Rep. Thomas Massie and Sen. Rand Paul as occasional critics of Trump within the party. The on-air dispute closed amid overlapping remarks and Bolduan moving the discussion along; the clip of the segment was featured on CNN NewsNight and later shared by Mediaite.