Neera Tanden, who served as a senior domestic policy advisor under President Joe Biden, criticized CNN pundit Scott Jennings after he lashed out at her during a discussion about the vandalism of Teslas—prompting Tanden to issue a hilarious response on X.
In recent weeks, vandals protesting Musk’s controversial efforts to slash the federal government and cut government jobs have defaced or destroyed Tesla vehicles and damaged buildings in multiple cities. While no serious injuries have been reported, the incidents have raised security concerns.
Speaking on CNN's NewsNight, Jennings condemned the incidents and tried to blame "the left" for them. Jennings’ remarks sparked a sharp response from Tanden, who pointedly called out the Republican double standard of outrage:
"So, when they do it to a Tesla dealership, it’s really bad. But when they do it to the halls of Congress, we should pardon them? Is that your position?"
A miffed Jennings responded:
"No. I've never. ... I know you haven’t been around for a while, so let me educate you about my position about January 6th."
After Tanden gave him a sarcastic apology, Jennings added over crosstalk:
"Let me educate. Let me educate you. No, no, no, you don’t need to be condescending to me. So let me educate you about my position! You wanna attack me? Let me. Let me finish. Let me finish it."
Here, Tanden replied:
"I'm sorry you're getting emotional."
But Jennings continued to attack her in an unhinged rant:
"Yeah, I’m sorry you’re a condescending person who hasn’t been paying attention to what I do. So here’s the issue. I didn’t support what happened on January 6th and was one of the first Republicans to call it out. I don’t support the pardons."
"I have repeatedly, just like my friend Ashley here, said that no violence in our political system is acceptable. But this right here, what’s going on with a guy who helps our country, who runs successful companies, who doesn’t have to be doing this, and now one of his companies is under systematic terroristic threat and violence all over the country."
"And people seem to be laughing about it or fine with it. It’s outrageous. I’ve sat at this table and had people say we should cut Elon Musk from the government totally. He rescued our astronauts today."
"Is that what we want? The treatment of this guy is outrageous. These people who are doing this need to be found and put in jail and made an example of. That’s my point."
But Tanden, undeterred, shut him down:
"Anyone who commits violence against Tesla or Congress or anyone else should be put in jail 1,000%, but that should not stifle dissent or opposition from Elon Musk. ... There's no both sides here."
"I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry to say that people are legitimately upset. They are legitimately upset at Elon Musk. And they’re doing it on their own."
"But there’s no reason to have violence in the country. But I just wish all of us would support criticism of or would support punishing people who are violent wherever they are."
You can watch their exchange in the video below.
Then she followed up with this zinger, mocking him for his failure to keep his cool much in the same way that many conservative men often criticize women:
"Some men are so emotional."
You can see her post below.
People loved her response.
Tanden later took to X to fact-check one of Jennings' claims, that he had somehow spoken out against the riots of January 6th.
"Tonight Scott Jennings chided me for not being aware he criticized the Jan 6th pardons. Turns out I didn't hear about it because... he didn't do it. Judge for yourself if this is criticism or rationalization. And it's in the same network we were on tonight."
And she brought the receipts:
Nice try, Scott.
