{"id":2647691,"date":"2026-08-21T07:50:02","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T11:50:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/when-pundits-return-to-the-white-house-the-scott-jennings-precedent\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T07:51:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T11:51:22","slug":"when-pundits-return-to-the-white-house-the-scott-jennings-precedent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/when-pundits-return-to-the-white-house-the-scott-jennings-precedent\/","title":{"rendered":"When pundits return to the White House: The Scott Jennings precedent"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwhen-pundits-return-to-the-white-house-the-scott-jennings-precedent%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2647691&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article discusses the trend of conservative commentators and political figures transitioning into roles within the White House governance. It highlights examples such as Scott Jennings, a CNN pundit now considered for a White House position, and compares him to past figures like Pat Buchanan, who served as a White House communications director during Reagan&#8217;s presidency, and Tony Snow, who was White House press secretary under George W. Bush. Buchanan&#8217;s extensive media career included roles as a columnist, radio host, and panelist on influential political talk shows, and he previously worked closely with Nixon as a speechwriter and strategist. Snow also had notable media experience before his tenure as press secretary. <\/p>\n<p>The article notes that these career paths show a pattern of media figures moving into government roles,which can serve as stepping stones to broader political ambitions. It also discusses the careers of subsequent press secretaries, such as Kayleigh McEnany, Dana Perino, Jen Psaki, and others, emphasizing how media exposure often follows or precedes these government roles. <\/p>\n<p>Currently, President Trump\u2019s spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt is stepping down, with speculation about her replacement often leaning towards women, continuing the pattern of media personalities or political operatives entering or leaving the white House communication team. The article underscores the interconnected nature of media and politics, especially within conservative circles, and notes that some figures, like Jennings, might even pursue candidacy for higher office in the future.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It would be unusual if conservative commentator <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/opinion\/columnists\/3895005\/scott-jennings-a-revolution-of-common-sense-lives-up-to-title\/\">Scott Jennings<\/a> left the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/cnn\/\">CNN<\/a> studio for the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/white-house\/\">White House<\/a> briefing room as President <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\">Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4695048\/scott-jennings-cnn-experience-press-secretary-sweepstakes\/\">next press secretary<\/a>, but not unprecedented.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/pat-buchanan\/\">Pat Buchanan<\/a> returned to the White House to serve as communications director for President <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/ronald-reagan\/\">Ronald Reagan<\/a> in 1985, he had already been a top pundit at a time when Fox News didn\u2019t exist and there still weren\u2019t a lot of conservatives on television.<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4695497\/pundits-white-house-press-secretary-scott-jennings-precedent\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>When pundits return to the White House: The Scott Jennings precedent<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4695546\/trump-michael-cohen-hush-money-trial\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Trump tells Michael Cohen he was \u2018weaponized\u2019 in hush money trial<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4695476\/win-25-points-trump-poll-iran-war\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>\u2018I\u2019d win by 25 points\u2019: Trump rejects poor polling and says Americans \u2018respect\u2019 Iran war<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Buchanan had been a syndicated newspaper columnist, a commentator for NBC radio, host of a radio show with liberal pundit Tom Braden, a co-host of CNN\u2019s <em>Crossfire<\/em> (originally with Braden but most famously with liberal journalist Michael Kinsley), and a founding panelist of two of the most important political talk shows of the time, <em>The McLaughlin Group<\/em> and <em>Capital Gang<\/em>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-1\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-1\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-15\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-1\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The conservative brawler had received a master\u2019s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and initially plied his trade as an editorial writer for the <em>St. Louis Globe-Democrat<\/em>. But he soon became a close political aide to <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/richard-nixon\/\">Richard Nixon<\/a>, following the former vice president along what was at the time a great political comeback from being defeated by John F. Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election to winning the White House eight years later and then being reelected in a 49-state landslide.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Buchanan loyally served Nixon as a speechwriter and strategist until Watergate brought an end to his presidency. He stayed on briefly with Gerald Ford after Nixon resigned in 1974 before becoming one of the top conservative voices in the media. But by Reagan\u2019s second term, after his own 49-state landslide reelection, he needed reinforcements from movement conservatives with substantial communications experience. Enter Buchanan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another possible precursor to Jennings was Tony Snow, who, like Buchanan, had been a newspaper editorial writer and radio host who ultimately did a stint as a presidential speechwriter (for George H.W. Bush). Also like Buchanan, Snow wrote a nationally syndicated column (for Creators, the same syndicate). Snow was a popular guest host for conservative talk-radio giant Rush Limbaugh in the 1990s.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-2\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-2\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-16\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-2\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In April 2006, President George W. Bush tapped Snow as White House press secretary. Unlike Buchanan, in that capacity he was forward-facing and delivered the daily briefings to reporters. Snow came on as the Iraq war was declining in popularity and Democrats were <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/congressional\/4677118\/shades-of-2006-midterm-elections-2026\/\">poised to win the midterm elections<\/a>. Snow\u2019s vast media experience made him an able defender of the president, something Jennings could draw on in a much uglier political environment. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A Democratic model for Jennings might be Jay Carney, who spent 20 years at <em>Time<\/em>, eventually becoming the magazine\u2019s Washington bureau chief, before becoming Vice President Joe Biden\u2019s communications director and ultimately President Barack Obama\u2019s White House press secretary. Carney\u2019s prior television work had been less polemical than Buchanan or Snow\u2019s, as he appeared on camera as a political analyst before being enlisted by the Obama-Biden team. Snow was somewhat measured compared to Jennings today; Buchanan in his prime was more of a bomb-thrower (although Snow quipped in the 1990s that Buchanan spoke in the tone of a mugger assuring his victim that nobody would get hurt if the billfold was handed over).<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While Jennings has been a popular television personality, podcaster, and columnist, he is more of a political operative by background. His closeness to Sen. <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/mitch-mcconnell\/\">Mitch McConnell<\/a> (R-KY) and past work for George W. Bush might at first appear disqualifying for the Trump White House.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-3\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-3\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-17\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-3\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Jennings has emerged as a leading Trump defender. Republicans of his ilk have warmed to the president since the 2024 campaign. While Trump\u2019s clashes with the GOP governing class are hardly over, some Republicans who were reluctant supporters of his have backed him more fervently on issues like the Iran war than early adopters in media, such as Tucker Carlson.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kayleigh McEnany cut her teeth as a willing Trump supporter on CNN before becoming White House press secretary. But McEnany\u2019s career trajectory is much more typical of someone in that role: being White House press secretary expanded her media profile and made her into a much bigger television commentator. Dana Perino, who replaced Snow as Bush\u2019s press secretary, and George Stephanopoulos, Bill Clinton\u2019s White House communications director, followed this path to media stardom. Jen Psaki, Biden\u2019s most successful press secretary, has her own show on MS NOW, and his former communications director Kate Bedingfield is a regular on CNN.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This proved true even of Trump comms aides who broke with him near the end of his first term, such as Alyssa Farah Griffin, who is now the main conservative co-host of <em>The View<\/em>, and Sarah Matthews.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-4\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-4\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-25\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-4\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump\u2019s current top spokeswoman, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, is stepping down at the end of the month. She previously ran for Congress in her home state of New Hampshire.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4688641\/trumpworld-karoline-leavitt-replacement-woman\/\"><strong>TWO REASONS TRUMPWORLD THINKS LEAVITT\u2019S REPLACEMENT WILL BE A WOMAN <\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of course, Sarah Huckabee Sanders was able to jump from her time as Trump White House press secretary to governor of Arkansas, a job once filled by her father. By the end of his run as White House communications director, Buchanan was a plausible presidential candidate who twice finished second for the Republican nomination. A few years before his first run, Buchanan observed that \u201cthe greatest vacuum in American politics is to the right of Ronald Reagan.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-5\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-5\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-26\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-5\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jennings has also been talked about as a political candidate in his own right. Whether a talking head of his stature wants to become a White House staffer, even a fairly senior one, is another story. But it\u2019s been done before.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Scott Jennings leaving CNN for White House role is rare but not new<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2659,"featured_media":2647692,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/d21a662e201a817373e7540d745811a0-e1787281394294.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[5894,5360,61797,38862,32127],"class_list":["post-2647691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-politics","tag-precedent","tag-pundits-2","tag-scott-jennings","tag-white-house"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/d21a662e201a817373e7540d745811a0-e1787281394294.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2647691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2659"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2647691"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2647691\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2647696,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2647691\/revisions\/2647696"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2647692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2647691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2647691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2647691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}