Conservative commentator Scott Jennings became the face of memes after his heated exchange with progressive commentator Adam Mockler on CNN’s ”NewsNight with Abby Phillip” Thursday night, and body language experts think this was a result of built-up tension between the two.
Jennings’ body language implies he was already feeling tense before Mockler made his first quip about Jennings being “more than happy to defend a war with a country that starts with the letters I, R, A.”
“He was already really anxious — in fact, if you pull the [debate] back to the very beginning, you can see his ankles crossed under the table, and they were just fidgeting back and forth,” body language expert Susan Constantine told HuffPost. “He was trying to restrain a lot of the anticipation [and] the anxiety they had” before the fight even unfolded.
Jennings and Mockler have debated each other in the past, which likely contributed to the tension.
“Given the history and the ongoing agitation and animosity that was building it, it just came to a boiling point [quickly],” Constantine said. “Both of them were already ready for a fight.”
