WASHINGTON — Former Bush aide and longtime GOP strategist Scott Jennings has spent years sparring nightly with liberal commentators on CNN. Now, he’s channeling those on-air battles—and his front-row view of the Trump era—into a new book called A Revolution of Common Sense: How Donald Trump Stormed Washington and Fought for Western Civilization.
That notion of common sense comes straight from President Trump himself when he vowed at the start of his second term to “begin the complete restoration of America and the revolution of common sense.”
Jennings believes that line isn’t just rhetoric—it’s a brand. “I heard the president use that phrase in his inaugural address,” Jennings tells CBN News. “It really does sum up the political branding he’s applied to the Republican Party and the conservative movement.”
From Coal Country to the CNN Panel
Jennings’s worldview was shaped long before he appeared on cable news. He grew up in Dawson Springs, Kentucky, a coal-mining town anchored by blue-collar Democratic voters. “I’m the son of a garbage man and a factory worker,” he says.
His own family reflected the old Democratic coalition: his father, a union supporter, was a Clinton voter; his grandfather was a New Deal Democrat. But Jennings recalls one moment that caught even him off guard. “My dad was also the first person to tell me Donald Trump was going to be the next president.”
Scott Jennings didn’t see the Trump Phenomenon at first. A loyalist to the Bush family, he worked in the White House and on the campaigns of George W. Bush and backed Jeb Bush in 2016. But over time, he says, he came to understand Trump’s appeal.
“I had been on the roller coaster with Donald Trump… but what I have come to realize is that the United States is the last best hope for the West.”
He argues Europe has been “overrun” and that Trump is uniquely willing to defend what Jennings calls Western civilization.
A Book That Connects Him Closer to Trump
Jennings’ new book, A Revolution of Common Sense, examines Trump’s political instincts, his governing style, and why so many Americans feel deeply understood by him.
“As a political actor, I feel closer to President Trump now than I ever have,” Jennings says. “Even though there are things I don’t agree with, millions of Republicans feel this way.”
The book also aims to clarify Trump for both supporters and critics. “If you love Trump, you’ll be smarter about why he operates the way he does. If you don’t like him, you’ll also be smarter about how the opening days of this administration unfolded.”
Not an Isolationist, Jennings Says
Jennings disputes claims that Trump is an isolationist, pointing to the President’s involvement in foreign policy, especially in the Middle East. “I believe he was the only American president who could have pulled off the hostage deal,” Jennings says, calling Trump a “friend of Israel” capable of bringing competing personalities into the same room with a strong mix of deal-making skills, curiosity, and audacity.
Jennings also opines on Trump’s strong bond with evangelical Christians—a relationship he says the media consistently misunderstands. “We didn’t hire this man to sing soprano in the choir,” he tells CBN News. “We hired him to guard the church door, and by the way, the barbarians are at the gates!”
Jennings on CNN
Dealing with barbarians at the gate is a situation Jennings finds himself repeating nightly on CNN, where he frequently clashes with progressive panelists. In one recent appearance, when a guest argued that Republicans should “stay out of bedrooms and doctors’ offices,” Jennings pushed back: “I’ll have to speak up for the babies—they’re not here to speak for themselves! Lord, have mercy.”
On many nights, it’s not even about defending President Trump as it is about enlightening the panelists around him.
“I might be the only Republican they know,” says Jennings. “And if not but for being contractually obligated to do so, they might not know any… My job is to translate from Red America how we are absorbing the news, why we see things the way we do, using my political experience and my authentic values to say, ‘This is how this decision strikes me. I recognize you all are mad about it, but here’s how somebody from Dawson Springs, Kentucky, is going to absorb it.’ And I think for our audience, it’s a valuable perspective. I think it makes them smarter.”
On the subject of being smarter, Jennings learned something else from researching his book. “I’ll tell you one thing I’ve learned, ” Jennings says. “I don’t know who the heck was running the country in the four years previous, but I sure as heck know who’s running it right now. The nerve center of our government is the Oval Office, and it’s right behind the Resolute Desk. It is not diffused. He’s got his cabinet in there. There are people coming and going. It’s a bustling West Wing. The President, the elected President, is firmly in control of the country.”
You can also feel confident that Jennings is quite familiar with Common Sense Americans, as all signs indicate he’s one of them. His podcast, “Flyover Country,” focuses on life beyond Washington and large coastal cities. When he’s not on CNN, he’s home with his wife, four children, their bulldog—and a growing flock of chickens.
Jennings says he remains grounded in the values of rural America and says Trump is like-minded: communicating in a way that resonates with millions of people who feel overlooked by traditional political elites. “There’s a gear that people who get elected president have. Trump has it. And millions feel he speaks for them the way they would speak if anyone ever handed them a microphone.”
Jennings now has a microphone too—and with his new book, he hopes to amplify that message even further.
