From the man who infamously declared, on Election Night 2016, that Donald Trump’s win over Hillary Clinton was “whitelash” to a black president, CNN commentator Van Jones had a vastly different tone Tuesday night. The President’s address to a joint session of Congress was applauded by many for the emotional tone struck while speaking to the wife of slain Navy SEAL Ryan Owens; to which Jones declared “He became President of the United States in that moment. Period.”
“There are a lot of people who have a lot of reason to be frustrated with him, to be fearful of him, to be mad at him,” he continued, “But that was one of the most extraordinary moments you have ever seen in American politics period.”
He described that portion of the speech as “extraordinary” and said that for those who held out in their belief that Trump could be presidential and unifying, “they should be happy with that moment.” But he had a dire warning for Democrats who think that they can just stroll into the White House in four years:
For people hoping that maybe he would remain a divisive cartoon, which he often finds a way to do, they should begin to become a little bit worried tonight. Because, that thing you just saw him do, if he finds way to do that over and over again, he'll be there for eight years. Now, there is a lot he said in that speech that was counter factual, that was not right and I oppose and will oppose but he did something tonight that you can't take away from him. He became president of the United States.
CNN’s Gloria Borger, who once whined that Trump didn’t pay tribute to Hillary, was also taken by the “humanity in their exchange.” She also approved of how Trump missed outlandish reports that the raid, in which Owens was killed, yielded no valuable information. “He quoted General Mattis, basically said “don't take my word, this is what I was told by the secretary of defense is that there were things of value that will be of use to your country,” she said.
As the discussion came back around to Jones, he again had a warning for his fellow progressives for how to deal with a surging Trump:
What it does is, it forces a reset for the progressives now. In other words, there was a particular way to deal with him up until tonight, rely on him to be a divisive cartoonish clown and continue to offend and insult people to pull your base up. And if you assume he's going to stay in that, you run a particular type of thing against him. If he figures out how to do stuff like that to the Democrats, I think the Democrats have to reset.
Transcript below:
CNN
Anderson Cooper 360
February 28, 2017
10:37:44 PM EasternANDERSON COOPER: Truly extraordinary moment, Caryn Owens there. William Ryan Owens was her husband. Van you were saying while you were watching that, about the significance of that moment.
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VAN JONES: He became president of the United States in that moment. Period. There are a lot of people who have a lot of reason to be frustrated with him, to be fearful of him, to be mad at him. But that was one of the most extraordinary moments you have ever seen in American politics period. And he did something extraordinary, and for people who have been hoping that he would become unifying, hoping that he might find some way to become presidential, they should be happy with that moment.
For people hoping that maybe he would remain a divisive cartoon, which he often finds a way to do, they should begin to become a little bit worried tonight. Because, that thing you just saw him do, if he finds way to do that over and over again, he'll be there for eight years. Now, there is a lot he said in that speech that was counter factual, that was not right and I oppose and will oppose but he did something tonight that you can't take away from him. He became president of the United States.
GLORIA BORGER: And there was humanity in their exchange; him looking at her. And also as commander in chief, and I think this is important. What he did was, he refuted the reports that nothing of value was recovered from that raid. And he quoted General Mattis, basically said “don't take my word, this is what I was told by the secretary of defense is that there were things of value that will be of use to your country.”
…
RICK SANTORUM: Most important thing that happened there was her response. Her jumping up and applauding for her husband's accomplishment.
BORGER: Her face.
SANTORUM: That she was validated, he was validated, that the sacrifice was meaningful. And that she had been hearing political -- you're a wife hearing political discourse about whether a success or not and you're just distraught, because your husband—you lost your husband. And the country is arguing about whether the mission—
JEFFREY LORD: All the crap.
SANTORUM: Yeah, and for him-- at a State of the Union Address in front of the world say, “your husband's life mattered and served country well,” And she responded to that. That was a moment that -- you can tell right now—I mean it's emotional moment that I think, as Van said was very healing moment for everybody.
JONES: We’ll fight about everything else but that.
…
10:41:22 PM Eastern
JONES: What it does is, it forces a reset for the progressives now. In other words, there was a particular way to deal with him up until tonight, rely on him to be a divisive cartoonish clown and continue to offend and insult people to pull your base up. And if you assume he's going to stay in that, you run a particular type of thing against him. If he figures out how to do stuff like that to the Democrats, I think the Democrats have to reset.
