CNN analyst Van Jones has been going viral lately...and not in a good way. The impending presidential election has had the country on edge, and Jones — a former political adviser to Barack Obama — has been sharing his observations on the disconcerting political climate.
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However, he seems more worried about being over the top than actually making sense.
First came his dreadful analysis of Amber Rose’s speech at the Republican National Convention last week. No one in the Black community takes their political cues from Kanye West’s ex, but Jones thought otherwise: “That was probably the most dangerous speech for the Democratic coalition,” Jones said referencing Rose’s words.
“That is a young woman of color. She is describing the experience that a lot of people have — feeling that maybe, if you’re around too many liberals, you might get criticized too much or you might not be able to speak your mind, and she spoke to it really well.”
Jones’ thoughts on her words felt like hyperbole, as Rose’s speech was as hollow and insincere as her sudden support of Donald Trump. He also compared the RNC to Obama’s 2008 convention, despite the obvious historical and moral differences.
Obama was vying to become this country’s first Black president while Trump —who has literally quoted Hitler — plans to implement policies as president (outlined in Project 2025) that would hurt Black people and people of color. Jones also managed to simultaneously martyr Trump while downplaying the severity of Biden catching Covid for a second time last week.
“A bullet couldn’t stop Trump; a virus just stopped Biden,” Jones said. However, when Biden and Harris won the election back in 2020 Jones cried on live television. He once again became overwrought with emotion over the news of Biden opting to drop out of the presidential race — even though he has been one of Biden’s most vocal critics.
He also compared Biden dropping out to a grandparent being forced to give up their car keys for some reason. “He’s fighting. Everybody’s so frustrated. Then you finally get the keys back, and then you just cry because this is somebody that you love. This is somebody that you care about,” Jones said, on the verge of tears.
“This is what it means to put the country first and put the party first, and put the cause first.” With Kamala Harris becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee, Jones has declared the Vice President has gone from “cringe to cool” because of social media.
“There’s something happening that’s hard to quantify, because what’s happening on TikTok right now, is extraordinary,” Jones stated Monday on CNN.
“All the things that were cringey about Kamala, her laugh, the coconut tree comment, being unburdened by what...all those weird things she’s said...she’s gone from cringe to cool in 24 hours as a whole generation has taken all that content and remixed it in all these incredible TikTok videos.”
There’s no doubt that Jones will continue to run his mouth and say outrageous things as we inch closer to November — but Black folks wish he would just stop.
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