Van Jones has a warning for the Democratic party ahead of the elections.
The veteran CNN commentator talked about efforts to garner the Black vote during a Saturday appearance on S.E. Cupp’s “Unfiltered.” Jones predicted Black people will overwhelmingly vote against Donald Trump, but he entertained the possibility of the president being able to “shave off enough Black votes” to be elected.
Jones eventually made it plain for Democrats: work for the Black vote or they will lose the election.
“Do not take the Black vote for granted in this election,” Jones said. “And don’t pick somebody who’s not going to appeal to Black people because you’re really going to be hurting the cause.”
Jones also argued Black voters are becoming weary of the Democratic Party and its broken promises the Black community.
“If you’re an African-American voter, you understand, I get it, I’m supposed to stand in a five-hour-long line in the freezing cold in Michigan so the Democrats can win ― and then never speak to me again for four years,” Jones told Cupp. “And it’s gotten old and tired.”
He asserted the Black community could benefit from the parties fighting over their votes.
“For a long time, the black vote was taken for granted by Democrats and written off by Republicans,” he stated. “That’s not happening this year.”
Jones accused Democrats of engaging “in three years of fantasy football politics” because they underestimated Trump’s ability to mobilize his supporters. He also criticized the Democrats’ focus on issues like the Mueller report and impeachment rather than causes valued by their constituents.
“Had we spent past three years accepting reality that a bunch of people who voted for Obama twice voted for Trump, hard to call them Nazis, and listen to them, in addition to our own constituencies, and figured out what they needed, we might be in a position to have Trump on the run,” Jones added.
Jones believes the Democrats are waking up because they’re doing things they never used to do including talking about criminal justice reform and reparations. He added people in “blue bubbles” like New York and Los Angeles might disqualify Trump because of his past commentary but Jones warned the goal posts are different for everyone.
“For a lot of people, that’s enough of a disqualifier,” Jones explained. “But, you might have other people who may say ‘well, he’s doing something for Black colleges, he’s doing something for criminal justice. I’ll give him a listen.’”
