On Tuesday's CNN Newsroom Jim Acosta hosted Van Jones who commented on Governor Tim Walz (D-MN) being announced as Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate for president. Shockingly, he called out the pick as an appeal to "the darker parts in the party" in terms of "anti-Jewish bigots" and claimed they will vote for Walz regardless.
Acosta teed up Jones's take on the pick by noting that some doubt that Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (D) would "offer his full support" behind Waltz. He asked Jones if he thought it was a “little risky” that Harris didn’t go with Shapiro. Jones responded “hey listen the Conservatives, the right-wing Republicans, they were chewing their fingernails down to the knuckle because they were afraid of a Josh Shapiro.”
Pivoting to Walz, Jones then went on to say that Muslims and Arabs have not “felt seen by the Biden administration” as reason Harris picked him. Clearly understanding that he was going to ruffle a lot of feathers with what he was about to admit, Jones lamented: "People don't want to talk about it -- we got to talk about it."
He then proceeded to call out the Walz pick as blatant appeasement of "anti-Semitism":
On the one hand, you 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 joke, that was building that was building and so those folks needed to have a candidate that they could feel comfortable with. This helps him in that regard.
But you also have anti-Semitism that has gotten marbled into this party. You can be for the Palestinians without being an anti-Jewish bigot. But there are some anti-Jewish bigots out there and there's some disquiet now and there has to be. How much of what just happened is caving into some of these darker parts in the party? So that's going to have to get worked out. It’s going to have to get talked through.
Jones concluded that these things will need to be “worked out.” He praised Shapiro a little more by saying he has a “magnificent future in this party.”
Click "Expand" to view the transcript:
CNN Newsroom with Jim Acosta
8/6/2024
10:27:01 – 10:29:26 AMJIM ACOSTA: I suppose we might –
VAN JONES: That’s that.
ACOSTA: Yeah we might see the governor out there in Philadelphia later today. Maybe we won't, we'll find out about that. But I mean, it seems to be -- to be a stretch that there would be sour grapes here and that Shapiro is not going to offer his full support.
JONES: Look, Josh Shapiro is a class act from beginning to end. He’s a rising star in this party. He's done an extraordinary job. He gets Republican votes, independent voters, moderate votes, smurfs vote for him, muppets vote for him, I mean, the guy is a vote magnet and there's a reason for that. He is a class act. He's a -- he's a true American, and he's going to show up and he's gonna –
ACOSTA: Do you think it was a little risky though, Van, that she didn't go with Shapiro to kind of lock down Pennsylvania? I mean yes, David Chalian you were saying earlier just because you pick him as your running mate, doesn't mean you automatically win Pennsylvania. But I got to think it would have helped just a little bit.
JONES: Hey listen that – the -- the Conservatives, the right-wing 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 but so here's the challenge you've got in this party, and you know, people don't want to talk about it -- we got to talk about it.
On the one hand, you 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 joke, that was building that was building and so those folks needed to have a candidate that they could feel comfortable with. This helps him in that regard. But you also have anti-Semitism that has gotten marbled into this party. You can be for the Palestinians without being an anti-Jewish bigot. But there are some anti-Jewish bigots out there and there's some disquiet now and there has to be. How much of what just happened is caving into some of these darker parts in the party? So that's going to have to get worked out. It’s going to have to get talked through.
But I tell you what, if you have a Josh Shapiro who says, you know what I give this my stamp. I give this my support. I believe in this ticket that's going to help a great deal. And Josh Shapiro has a magnificent future in this party regardless. But this is -- it's mostly positive. You’re seeing mostly enthusiasm, but there is some disquiet and conversation we got to have inside this party.
ACOSTA: Interesting. All right Van Jones I know that conversation will continue I'm sure there are a lot of folks in the Harris campaign who will push back on some of those notions there. But we'll keep that conversation going, Van Jones.
