CNN's Van Jones Says Democrats Are 'Sad and Depressed' About Attempts To Beat Trump
Life is terribly hard for Democrats these days, CNN commentator Van Jones bemoaned Tuesday night while assessing the fallout from the New Hampshire Democratic primary.
In the voting, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont appeared to have eked out a narrow victory over former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, according to The New York Times. Meanwhile, the down-ballot drama showed Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota finishing third, while Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts placed a distant fourth and former Vice President Joe Biden drifted all the way down to fifth.
Jones said voters are confused.
“I think people are depressed,” he said on the network Tuesday. “I think people are sad. I think people can’t figure out which of these people they’re supposed to vote for, and I think people are waiting to come out to vote against Donald Trump.”
We need to remember the laws changed in New Hampshire, and students are having a harder time voting. That hurts @BernieSanders.
Something else is going on, though. Voters are depressed & overwhelmed by options. People just want someone to vote for against Trump. @CNN #NHprimary pic.twitter.com/x4h2fTBEzz
— Van Jones (@VanJones68) February 12, 2020
“This is a messy, confusing choice. People are sad and depressed, and people just want somebody to vote for against Trump,” he said.
In his remarks, Jones tried to spin the results to claim that Sanders would have won bigger if not for a 2018 New Hampshire law that redefined residency in the state for voting purposes.
“Let’s not forget though, in New Hampshire, younger people, especially students, are having a harder time voting,” Jones said. “They’ve changed the rules, they changed the laws, you have to register your car to be able to vote.”
As the primary results unfolded, Trump took several jabs at the Democrats.
Impeachment King Steyer (how did that work out?) spent 200 Million Dollars and got less than 1% of the vote in Iowa, and only 3% of the Vote in New Hampshire. Could it be that something is just plain missing? Not easy to do what I did, is it?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 12, 2020
Elizabeth Warren, sometimes referred to as Pocahontas, is having a really bad night. I think she is sending signals that she wants out. Calling for unity is her way of getting there, going home, and having a “nice cold beer” with her husband!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 12, 2020
To one commentator, the state of the Democratic race is just what Trump wants.
“The President’s dream scenario is a drawn-out, nasty fight that goes all the way to the national convention this summer,” CNN editor-at-large Chris Cillizza wrote Wednesday.
“And that scenario got more likely on Tuesday night — with the field of candidates likely to stay in the race for weeks or months to come growing (Klobuchar is now in the mix, along with Sanders, Buttigieg, Biden, Warren and Michael Bloomberg). Trump, meanwhile, continues to run largely unopposed for the GOP nod — collecting huge sums of cash and voter data along the way.”
He also noted that for Biden, the results of New Hampshire, on top of the former vice president’s lackluster Iowa finish, mean that “Biden has run for president three times (1988, 2008 and 2020) and still has never won a single primary or caucus.”
“Biden has insisted he will go on to Nevada’s caucuses on February 22 and the South Carolina primary on February 29, where the electorate is much more diverse than in Iowa and New Hampshire.
“Sure. But momentum matters. And money follows momentum. Biden is absolutely dead in the water on both fronts,” he wrote.
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