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Next Up with Mark Halperin

Inside the Dems’ Identity Crisis, and Scott Jennings on Trump, Vance, and Filling KY’s Senate Seat

Next Up with Mark Halperin

MK Media

News, Daily News, Politics

4.61.2K Ratings

🗓️ 16 October 2025

⏱️ 68 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Mark Halperin opens today’s show with his new reported monologue on the Democrats’ identity crisis — a deep dive into how the party has built its identity around resistance, and why that playbook has failed in the view of many Democrats. For years now, anti-Trump applause lines have filled the space where ideas used to live, creating a cycle of outrage that thrilled MSNBC panels but alienated voters looking for solutions. Now, as the country shifts and Republicans confidently seize the momentum, Democrats face a defining question: if they’re not just the opposition, what are they? Then, CNN’s “America’s Favorite Pundit” Scott Jennings joins Mark for a wide-ranging interview on how he built a rare platform as a conservative voice on CNN and why his perspective resonates with both MAGA loyalists and mainstream audiences. Jennings breaks down JD Vance’s emergence as a Republican powerhouse, the party’s new balance of loyalty and ambition, and the political intrigue surrounding Mitch McConnell’s successor — including whether Scott himself plans to enter the race. Forward Mobile: Help protect the American vaping industry before it’s too late! Visit https://vaportechnology.org Chapter: For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial 262-454-0503 or go to https://askchapter.org/mark Disclaimer: Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and standalone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don't directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all your options.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey, everybody, welcome in. This is Next Up. I'm Mark Halper. It's Thursday, and that means another time for us to convene.

0:08.9

Myself and my Nexters, beloved Nexters, thank you for being here. I'm the editor-in-chief of the

0:13.4

live interactive video platform two-way, and I host this program here, where I bring you all my

0:18.6

best reporting from the week analysis,

0:21.2

the top stories and the things that matter most right now, so you can always know what's next.

0:26.4

I'm joining us today.

0:28.1

Scott Jennings, King of All Media.

0:30.5

He's, you've seen him on CNN pretty much every day, rolling his eyes and bringing

0:35.5

fact-based quips to the liberals on the set with him.

0:39.0

He's also the author of a new book coming out shortly about Donald Trump called The Revolution

0:42.7

of Common Sense, How Donald Trump Stormed Washington and fought for Western civilization.

0:48.7

He also is a daily podcast.

0:50.1

He grew up in journalism, then switched to politics, worked for George Bush, for Mitch McConnell, and now he's doing betty, betty good.

0:58.1

So we'll talk to Scott about stuff that's in the news, including J.D. Vance, but also talk about his career and how he does what he does so well with so much recognition and acclaim.

1:09.2

That's coming up next.

1:10.7

But first, my reported monologue about

1:13.5

the Democrats. I'm constantly trying to figure out where the two parties are, what's going on with

1:19.7

them, what their relative asymmetrical advantages and disadvantages are. So over the last week, as we've

1:26.4

dealt with, the government shutdown,

1:27.8

the president's trip to the Middle East and the peace deal, and a lot of other things. I've been

1:32.1

talking to Democrats and asking the question, what do you think is going well for your party? What's not going

1:37.2

well? And they're confronting a lot, not just the Middle East and the shutdown, but the indictments

...

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