On Tuesday’s broadcast of “CNN Newsroom,” CNN Senior Political Commentator Van Jones reacted to 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris’ selection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) as her running mate by saying that there are “young people who are concerned about Gaza. You have a lot of Muslims and Arabs and others, they have not felt seen by the Biden administration. You started hearing that Genocide Joe, that was building, that was building and so those folks needed to have a candidate that they could feel comfortable with. This helps them in that regard.”
Jones began by saying that the Walz pick “extends the honeymoon, a lot of people are excited, but it’s not all one way. You do have the other side of this thing, which is, first of all, what worries me is you see a lot of relief from the conservatives. They were scared of Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA), the [conservatives]. They were scared of a Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ). They thought that would help define Kamala more to the middle. You see a lot of rejoicing on the right. That’s not good. … I think if you’re a young Muslim or a young Arab or someone who’s concerned about Gaza, it gives you a reason to stay excited about Kamala, because that was going to be hard for the party to digest. So, you’ve got a party now trying to figure out, is this good, is this bad, what does it mean for the young people, do they stay excited?”
He added, “Republicans are going to say, he’s far-left, etc. But what he actually is is something new, he’s a positive populist. He’s a populist. He’s an up with the people guy. He’s an everyday guy. He’s not an elite. He’s not a coastal elite at all. He’s — but he’s a positive populist. The problem with a Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), the problem with a Donald Trump, they call themselves populists, but they’re negative populists. Why are they for the people? Because they’re mad at the transgender people, they’re mad at the left, they’re mad at this, they’re mad at that. This guy’s not mad at anybody. He likes everybody. He loves everybody. He just wants people to be able to see a doctor when they’re sick, to be able to send their kids to a good school, to be able to have a country that works well together. So, he’s a populist, but he’s positive. I think that’s going to be very, very difficult for the Republicans to deal with, because when they try to paint him as some crazy extremist, he doesn’t come across that way at all. Economically, he might be a little bit to the left, but culturally, personally, he’s right down the middle. I think he’s going to give them fits. I think JD Vance is going to look like an idiot trying to bait this guy. I think it’s going to be a very, very fascinating race going forward.”
Jones concluded, “[T]he conservatives, the right-wing, the Republicans, they were chewing their fingernails down to the knuckle because they were afraid of a Josh Shapiro, they were afraid of a Mark Kelly, they’re not as afraid of this new Governor because they think they can define him. … [Y]ou have a lot of young people who are concerned about Gaza. You have a lot of Muslims and Arabs and others, they have not felt seen by the Biden administration. You started hearing that Genocide Joe, that was building, that was building and so those folks needed to have a candidate that they could feel comfortable with. This helps them in that regard.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
