Political commentator Van Jones didn’t hold back his reservations and fear on CNN Tuesday night (Nov.9) about the reality of a Donald Trump presidency. Articulating the robust apprehension many Democrats and minorities around the country feel, Jones said Trump’s win counteracts everything many Americans try and instill in their children.
“I am hearing about a nightmare,” the Yale law school graduate said. “It’s hard to be a parent tonight for a lot of us. You tell your kids don’t be a bully. You tell your kids don’t be a bigot. You tell your kids do your homework and be prepared, and then you have this outcome and you have people putting their children to bed tonight and they’re afraid of breakfast. They’re afraid of how do I explain this to my children?”
Jones began his rant by congratulating the two Republican commentators also on the live broadcast, but stated that for people of color in this country, Donald Trump’s presidential win is their worst fear come to pass.
“I have Muslim friends who are texting me tonight saying ‘Should I leave the country?’ I have families of immigrants who are terrified tonight. This was many things. This was a rebellion against the elites, true, it was a complete reinvention of polls and politics, true. It’s also something else. We’ve talked about race, we’ve talked about everything but race tonight. We’ve talked about income, we’ve talked about class, we’ve talked about region…this was a whitelash.” Jones said.
Trump’s campaign, which has incited violence at rallies and has been littered with sexist and xenophobic speech from the start, Jones thinks was the driving force behind his win at the polls.
“This was a whitelash against a changing country. It was a whitelash against a black president, in part and that’s the part where the pain comes. Donald Trump has a responsibility tonight. To come out and reassure people that he is going to be the president of all the people he insulted and offended and brushed aside. When you say you want to take your country back you have a lot of people who feel like we’re not represented here either. But we don’t want to feel that someone has been elected by throwing away some of us to appeal more deeply to others. This is a deeply painful moment tonight. I know its not all about race, but we gotta talk about it.”
