'You break it, you own it': CNN panelists clash as Dem says GOP broke 'Pottery Barn rule'
A Democratic strategist poked her Republican counterpart Thursday night on CNN, leading to a verbal dust-up.
The moment came between Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky and Republican strategist Scott Jennings on "NewsNight" during a discussion on the implosion of the GOP-led spending bill.
Anchor and moderator Abby Phillip asked her panel whether President-elect Donald Trump actually has as much control over his party as many thought, given the failure of the spending bill.
"He put his foot down and said vote for this bill. And they didn't, she said.
Roginsky jumped in to jab her opposing strategist.
"Well Scott, you break it, you own it, my friend," she said, paraphrasing a common retail idiom implying that if a customer damages or breaks an item that does not belong to them, they are responsible for paying for it. "That's the Pottery Barn rule."
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"What?" replied Jennings, scrunching his face.
"The system. You guys broke it," replied Roginsky.
"How?" he shot back.
"How'd you break it? You got everything you wanted. You have full control over everything now," she responded.
But Jennings wasn't convinced, and noted Trump hasn't taken office, and Democrats still hold both the presidency and the Senate.
"Even before you have full control, you have control of the House. You guys showed that you can't even govern when you have control of one House. I can't wait to see what's going to happen when you have control of all of it," said Roginsky.
"Where's your party?" Jennings retorted. "You control two of the three legs of the stool. Where's the president? Where's [Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer?"
Roginsky calmly explained to Jennings the House is responsible for sending a bill to the Senate — but it can't, as Republicans can't agree on what to send amid "mean tweets" from tech billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk, who has threatened to fund primary challenges against any Republicans who don't go along with the MAGA agenda.
Roginsky said Americans can expect similar chaos for the next four years.
"I'm going to drink my martinis, sit back and watch the chaos unfold," she said with a laugh.
The two bickered again when Jennings shot back that Democrats voted to shut down the government.
"No no no. Excuse me. Democrats could've uniformly voted to shut everything down. And you guys still would've been able to do it. Because you're in the majority," she insisted, as the two continued talking over each other.
"You're talking about drinking martinis — do you not have any governing responsibility on a two-thirds vote?" Jennings asked. "I mean, I'm only moderately good at math but ..."
Watch the terse exchange below or at this link.