With former President Trump winning the New Hampshire Primary, the first time a candidate had won it along with Iowa, liberal CNN commentator Van Jones suggested Trump was “weak” in a way that might have gotten a right-leaning commentator suspended or canceled. According to him, Trump “looks weak” because he was refusing to debate a woman: former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. He also warned his fellow Democrats that they were putting up a “weak” candidate in President Joe Biden.
“I do see it somewhat differently just with regard to the debate. I do think that he looks weak. Basically, there's a woman that says, ‘I want to getcha, I want to debate you,’” he said. “And he looks weak running from one person.”
Jones suggested that Trump’s argument that “Look, I don't want to be in a big circus with a bunch of nobodies,” couldn’t cut it anymore since he was only facing Haley. “I don't know that that doesn't wind up giving her a little bit more to say,” he hedged.
That said, he also didn’t see a path to victory for Haley. “And to your point, she does not have a landing field out there anywhere past where she is right now,” he noted.
About an hour prior to calling Trump “weak,” he tried to warn his fellow Democrats that Biden was a weak candidate too. “Part of what we're looking at Trump's strength, his resilience is really a reflection of Biden’s fragility,” he proclaimed.
He chided Democrats for being oblivious to the signs of serious trouble Biden was facing:
…because the polls show over and over again that even with 978 felonies he's still neck-and-neck with Biden. And so, it's a worrying sign. You're correct, there's some worrying signs for Trump. There should be worrying signs for Democrats that they're not afraid.
“Republicans are not afraid of Joe Biden. They're not afraid. They don't think that by putting someone up this damaged, frankly, this deranged with this many deficits is going to hurt them at all,” he added.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
CNN’s America’s Choice 2024: New Hampshire Primary
January 23, 2024
7:38:54 p.m. Eastern(…)
VAN JONES: I do think that what David’s [Axelrod] pointed to is important. Part of what we're looking at Trump's strength, his resilience is really a reflection of Biden’s fragility. Republicans are not afraid of Joe Biden. They're not afraid. They don't think that by putting someone up this damaged, frankly, this deranged with this many deficits is going to hurt them at all; because the polls show over and over again that even with 978 felonies he's still neck-and-neck with Biden. And so, it's a worrying sign. You're correct, there's some worrying signs for Trump. There should be worrying signs for Democrats that they're not afraid.
[Crosstalk]
(…)
8:39:27 p.m. Eastern
JONES: I do see it somewhat differently just with regard to the debate. I do think that he looks weak. Basically, there's a woman that says, ‘I want to getcha, I want to debate you.’ And he looks weak running from one person, saying, ‘Look, I don't want to be in a big circus with a bunch of nobodies.’ I don't know that that doesn't wind up giving her a little bit more to say. And to your point she does not have a landing field out there anywhere past where she is right now. I think you're going to hear that and I think it might work better than we think.
(…)
