Assessing the fallout of the election results, CNN political commentator Van Jones on Wednesday delivered yet another powerful reminder of the fear that many people are feeling in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidential election.
“If you talk to the actual people at the base, here is what you hear. Terror. Terrified Latinos. Terrified Muslims. I had a Muslim mother asking me, ‘Should I leave the country? Are they going intern us?’” Jones said.
When fellow panelist Kayleigh McEnany, a Trump supporter, accused him of “stoking fears,” Jones reminded her that Trump had spent his entire Republican campaign doing just that.
“You need to have a little bit of empathy and understanding for people who are afraid because your candidate has been one of the most explosively provocative candidates in the history of our country, and there is a price to be paid for that,” Jones said.
When she and other panelists on “Anderson Cooper 360” tried to interrupt, Jones pressed on.
“Hold on a second. I am not finished. I’m not going to be talked over tonight,” he continued. “I’m not. You have people who are terrified, and you have to take some responsibility for it. I am not spreading the terror. I am trying to damp it down.
“You have people, Latino families, who say, ‘This guy has said that he’s going to deport millions of people.’ They don’t know, should they sell their homes? They are terrified. That is a real fear. You have Muslims who have heard him say nothing good about the Muslim community the entire campaign. That is a real fear.”
Jones gave a similarly powerful message early Wednesday morning, soon after it became apparent that Trump would win, reminding viewers that much is at stake with a Trump presidency.
“It’s hard to be a parent tonight for a lot of us. You tell your kids, ‘Don’t be a bully.’ You tell your kids, ‘Don’t be a bigot.’ You tell your kids, ‘Do your homework and be prepared.’ Then you have this outcome, and you have people putting children to bed tonight, and they’re afraid of breakfast,” he said.
“They’re afraid of, ‘How do I explain this to my children?’ I have Muslim friends who are texting me tonight saying, ‘Should I leave the country?’ I have families of immigrants that are terrified tonight.”
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