CNN’s Van Jones Says Trump ‘Not An Idiot,’ Laments Democrats Underestimating Him

CNN host and contributor Van Jones joined a former network colleague’s podcast on Friday to lash out at Democrats for constantly underestimating President Donald Trump’s abilities and political acumen.

Speaking to former CNN political analyst Chris Cilizza, Jones, a former Obama administration official, said Trump routinely manages to make Democrats and media figures look silly.

“How the hell did Donald Trump figure out the mainstream media is now the fringe and the fringe is now the mainstream?” Cilizza said during the segment.

“How the hell did Donald Trump figure out — I mean, Joe Rogan is obvious, right? Like, we knew the guy had a big audience. It’s not like we were stunned,” Cilizza continued, referencing Trump’s appearance on the top-rated podcaster’s show about a month before the November election.

“But how was he — this 78-year-old guy who doesn’t even have a computer and still writes handwritten notes — how did he become the guy who cracked the code on, to your point, running a cultural — I don’t even want to say campaign — heading a cultural movement?” he asked.

“It’s a movement. Every one of your people know: Elon, Elon, Elon,” Jones responded. “The problem is you have this framework within your mind, ‘How can Donald Trump? How can Donald Trump? How can Donald Trump?’

“Guys, can we cut it out? Donald Trump is not an idiot. Donald Trump, let me be very clear: Donald Trump is smarter than me, you, and all his critics,” Jones continued. “Do you know why we know? Because he has the White House, the Senate, the House, and the popular vote, he has a massive media ecosystem bigger than the mainstream built around him and for him, and a religious fervor in a political movement around him.

“And he is best buddies with the richest person in the history of the world. And the most relevant Kennedy is with him,” Jones added. “This dude is a phenomenon. He is the most powerful human on earth, and in our lifetime, and we’re supposed to be like, ‘Well how did this guy…?’ We look like idiots,” Jones added.

WATCH:

Trump, the elder, had some key assistance during his latest campaign that very likely contributed to his winning a second term.

A former top Democrat donor believes that Trump’s youngest son, Barron, is wiser than Vice President Kamala Harris and her staff — and a majority of other Democratic strategists.

John Morgan, an attorney and one-time major Dem bundler, said that the youngest Trump’s advice was far better than the advice of the people on the vice president’s campaign staff.

“She can never run for president again. She ran once and got zero delegates. She got 8% of California. I begged them not to put her up. She was going to be tethered to Biden no matter what. That was a zero-sum game for her. But she thought that all these votes were for her. They were not. The votes that she got were people voting against Trump, and the votes that Trump got were the people voting for Trump,” he told Fox News host Kayleigh McEnany in late November.

“What the Harris campaign should have done instead of avoiding Joe Rogan and podcasts, it turns out that Barron Trump, who looks like a runway model, was telling his father, you need to go on podcasts. You need to go on Joe Rogan. He was three hours late to a rally because he was doing Joe Rogan because that was so important,” he said before mentioning Trump’s son.

“So Barron Trump is a lot smarter than everybody in the Harris—they said they didn’t go on Joe Rogan. The progressives around you heard what Carmel said. The progressives didn’t want to go on Joe Rogan. Look, if I’m running, I’m going on Joe Rogan. I’m living on Fox. That’s how you change minds. They played hide-the-ball. They lost badly. She should go away and never, ever come back. She spent almost $2 billion. They’re raising money this week to pay off the debt. If you can’t run your campaign, you damn sure can’t run the country,” Morgan concluded.