Scott Jennings Battles Kara Swisher: Didn’t the Ohio Governor Say Foreign Actors Are Behind Bomb Threats?

PHILLIP: “It recently has really gotten out of control. There‘s no ‘they,’ okay? He can be specific, but ‘they’ is sort of a dog whistle to conspiracy theorists.”
SWISHER:” Absolutely. No, that‘s where it begins and ends. And conspiracy theories or sort of at the heart of this. And again, we are part of what‘s happening, and which we do not realize and are being taken advantage of is all these efforts by foreign bodies that are trying to create this within us. And we are so easily — we are so easily manipulated by that. And it‘s really something that we have to do something about, including these recent investigations.”
JENNINGS: “I want to agree with this, actually.”
PHILLIP: “Yeah, we were talking about this yesterday.”
JENNINGS: “I do believe foreign actors are engaged in trying to sow discord.”
SWISHER: “They are.”
JENNINGS: “And it‘s several. And I think it happened this weekend, when everybody sprang to blame Trump and Vance for these Springfield hoaxes, and now we have the governor of Ohio telling us it‘s foreign actors calling this. And I totally agree — “
SWISHER: “No, no, you just twisted something, actually.”
JENNINGS: “Wait. I’m sorry, what?”
SWISHER: “They actually — “
JENNINGS: “What did I twist? Didn’t the governor of Ohio say it or not?”
SWISHER: “Whatever the governor of Ohio said, I‘m not going to put him as an expert on foreign influence. I‘m sorry.”
JENNINGS: “He‘s an expert on the public safety of the state.”
SWISHER: “J.D. Vance literally said, ‘I made it up.’ And that‘s what they did. They took something, they took a conspiracy theory — “
PHILLIP: “I don’t think the story — “
SWISHER: “I know.”
PHILLIP: “The story of what‘s going on in Springfield, Ohio isn‘t the provenance of these calls.”
SWISHER: “It’s not a conspiracy.”
JENNINGS: “It’s not. He‘s literally saying that foreign actors are calling in bomb threats and others — “
SWISHER: “That’s — “
JENNINGS: “I’m trying to agree with you and you won‘t even take it.”
SWISHER: “I won’t take it because you shifted — “
Allison: “He lied. He made it up.”
JENNINGS: “I’m trying — “
Allison: “Can we take one step back. Okay, perhaps — would people even know where Springfield, Ohio was if J.D. Vance hadn‘t made up a rumor about Haitian immigrants eating cats? Like, can we we agree that — “
JENNINGS: “I would. I used to live there. And you’re from there. So we would.”
Allison: “Most Americans. But would we even be talking about it if he hadn‘t started this story?”
PHILLIP: “And also, Scott, I mean, isn‘t — I mean, I think the point that I‘m trying to make is that that part is much more important than whether or not the bomb threats were called in by some 5-year-old — “
JENNINGS: “I think it’s very important.”
PHILLIP: “ — you know, 7-year-old anywhere in America, or a foreign entity.”
JENNINGS: “I think foreign entities are calling into towns in America and scrambling people — that is a major problem.”
PHILLIP: “Yeah, but they wouldn’t be doing that if not for a lie.”
JENNINGS: “I think — to her point, I agree. I think foreign actors — “
SWISHER: “You’re mixing it into something else.”
JENNINGS: “ — are constantly looking for ways to scramble us, I totally agree.”
PHILLIP: “Yeah, I mean, they certainly are, and I guess they‘re getting a lot of fodder in our politics these days.”