Political pundit Jelani Cobb left Twitter in stitches Thursday after chastising CNN’s Van Jones over his unabashed, brown-nosing praise of President Donald Trump.
Jones argued that Trump deserved some credit after throwing his support behind a bipartisan prison reform bill aimed at reducing sentences for crimes that disproportionately impact people of color.
As reported by CNN, the FIRST Step Act will “eliminate ‘stacking’ provisions that result in offenders serving consecutive sentences for crimes committed using firearms; shorten mandatory minimum sentences, including reverting life imprisonment to a 25-year minimum for those convicted under the ‘three strikes’ provision; and expand the ‘drug safety valve’ to reduce the number of nonviolent drug offenders receiving mandatory minimum sentences.” Supporters of the bill hope Trump’s backing will help push the sentencing overhaul bill through Congress for approval.
“Today, I’m thrilled to announce my support for this bipartisan bill that will make our communities safer and give former inmates a second chance at life after they have served their time,” the president said during his remarks Wednesday.
Jones, who’s been critical of Trump in the past, seemed more than impressed with the president’s endorsement and urged folks to give Trump props.
“Give the man his due: @realDonaldTrump is on his way to becoming the uniter-in-Chief on an issue that has divided America for generations,” Jones wrote on Twitter. Congrats to everyone on both sides who fought for this. #FIRSTSTEPact #CriminalJusticeSummit #CriminalJusticeReform #justicereform #Trump”
It wasn’t long before critics slammed the CNN talking head for being so quick to pat Trump on the back.
“Uniter-in-Chief? Are you for real, Van???,” one critic wrote. “You’ve been covering this con artist long enough to know how much he loves photo ops. Save your over-effusive praise for if and when he ever actually signs the bill into law.”
“VJ is SO goddamn thirsty for a Trump sit down he’s throwing all dignity out of the window,” another chimed in. “He played patty cake w/ Kim K. & JK and consistently LOOKS for ways to praise apricot Polpot bc he *knows* that’s the way to land him. It’s fucking pathetic.”
Cobb, a staff writer for The New Yorker, took the cake, however, when he responded with a hilarious tweet alluding to singer Jill Scott‘s sultry on-stage performance where she was captured giving imaginary fellatio to a microphone.
“This was more entertaining when Jill Scott did it,” Cobb tweeted.
The effortless clapback sent social media into a frenzy.
“Holy sh*t,” one person wrote.
“Just saw this and am screaming with laughter,” wrote another.
Another fan cooly responded with this:
— SPeña (@tutti_pena) November 15, 2018
