Former Obama adviser Van Jones warned the political class that the strategies they believed would win over the American people are woefully outdated.
At the New York Times DealBook summit, political figures offered their autopsies of why the Harris campaign failed and how the Trump campaign rode the wave of America’s changing media. Jones argued that President-elect Donald Trump’s victory is just another example of the American people’s dissatisfaction with both political parties’ rule.
“I want to talk real,” he said as he turned to Republicans on the panel. “You guys shouldn’t be as happy as you are because, 2016, people voted for change because they were fed up and sick of it, gave Trump a chance. 2020, people voted for change because they were sick of Trump. 2024 they voted for change, they’re probably gonna vote for change a bunch more times because, this- something is off, man.”
He added further, “There’s something really going wrong for real everyday working folks in this country, and I’m not sure either party has an answer yet. We know how to beat each other up when the other one is in power, but can we solve any of these problems?”
Political commentator Van Jones speaks during the “Politicon” convention in Pasadena, California, U.S. June 25, 2016. REUTERS/Patrick T. Fallon – S1BETMAVWNAA (REUTERS/Patrick T. Fallon )
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The CNN commentator argued that his hard-earned expertise comes from real world experience, something he says the political class is severely disconnected from.
“My perspective doesn’t come from the focus groups, it doesn’t come from sitting on CNN next to my beloved Anderson Cooper. I was on the ground supporting folks in Philadelphia trying to get folks to vote, I was trying to help Jewish voters get to the polls in the Philly suburbs, and I’m telling you, we are way off, the entire political class is way off,” he warned.
Jones recalled that while many initially laughed at the Trump campaign’s unorthodox tactics of focusing on internet influencers, they aren’t laughing anymore.
“First of all, digital is the new door knocking. You’ve got to understand that,” he said. “We were laughing our butts off at Donald Trump for suspending his door-knocking campaign and letting Charlie Kirk and Elon do a bunch of stuff online. We said, ‘These guys are idiots! These guys are stupid!’”
Video game streamer Adin Ross attends a basketball game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Sacramento Kings at Crypto.com Arena on January 18, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images)
“Then you start knocking on these doors… you know what people come to the door with? Their phone in their hand. They’re in a 24-hour digital surround sound that has nothing to do with CNN, has nothing to do with any of the stuff that we do,” he added.
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Jones then recalled that his own expectations were dashed when he asked his teenage son who the most influential people in the world are today. He had expected to hear former President Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey and Jay-Z, only to find they had been eclipsed by online video-game streamers like Kai Cenat, Adin Ross, Jynxzi, and Sketch on platforms he hadn’t ever heard of like Twitch, Kik and Rumble.
The news commentator then argued that the changing rules of American politics is something Trump and his campaign learned long before the rest of the political class.
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“I’m telling you guys, the mainstream has become fringe and the fringe has become mainstream,” Jones said. “There are platforms, there are people out there that are getting 14 million streams, and we’re on cable news getting 1 or 2 million, and so there is a whole world out there.
“Kellyanne Conway, I hate to agree with her, but I do a lot of times – Donald Trump understood that and we didn’t. And it’s not just Democrats that don’t, the entire political class is way off, way off, way off.”