CNN analyst Van Jones said Tuesday that many Democrats are “hurt” by the close outcome of the presidential election and desired “a repudiation” of President Donald Trump and his policies.
“We wanted to see a repudiation of this direction for the country. And the fact that it’s this close … hurts. It just hurts. I think people got their hopes up looking at those polls.”
Most presidential election polling was inaccurate and almost all of it suggested a substantial victory for Democratic challenger Joe Biden over President Donald Trump. (RELATED: Van Jones: No Candidate In Democratic Debate ‘Could Take Donald Trump Out’)
Jones made the comments during CNN’s election night coverage. “I think a lot of Democrats are hurt tonight. I think there’s a lot of hurt out there. There’s a moral victory and there’s a political victory. They’re not the same thing,” Jones said, suggesting that while Biden may still defeat Trump and become the next president, a close election does not sufficiently rebuke the Trump administration’s policies.
“The political victory still may come. But I think for people who saw babies being snatched away from their mothers at the border; for people who are sending their kids into schools where the n-word is now being used against them, for people who are seeing this wave of intolerance — they wanted a moral victory tonight,” he said. (RELATED: Van Jones Tells Democrats To ‘Wake Up,’ Says Trump Is ‘Causing Us Problems’ With The Black Vote)
President Donald Trump speaks on election night in the East Room of the White House in the early morning hours of Nov. 04, 2020 in Washington, DC. Trump spoke shortly after 2am with the presidential race against Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden still too close to call. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Jones listed the states that Biden could still win to secure victory but said, “But I’ve got to be honest tonight that I think people who — there were people who were hoping for a big repudiation, and that has not yet come. And a lot of people are hurt and scared tonight in the Democratic Party.”
Despite his unfavorable assessment of Trump’s presidency, Jones has praised the president for his prison reform policy and blamed Democrats for failing to speak out about the economic effects of looting and rioting that destroyed many businesses in cities across America.