Pundits from Joe Scarborough to Rudy Giuliani have praised Donald Trump’s acceptance speech as the perfect message, but Trump’s highest accolades may have come from one of his fiercest critics. If there was ever any doubt about whether or not Trump was the right man for this moment in time, just listen to how CNN’s avowed communist Van Jones reacted to the GOP Convention speech.
“What Donald Trump did tonight is a disgrace,” said Jones. “Even for Donald Trump, who at least occasionally breaks up the fear mongering with some jokes, some asides, some amusement – he had one funny line in an hour and 15 minutes and the rest of it was a relentlessly dark speech.
“He was describing some ‘Mad Max’ America,” Jones continued. “I work in some of the toughest neighborhoods in this country and I don’t know what he’s talking about when he describes the country he’s talking about.”
Jones said that Trump was making a “schizophrenic psychopathic attempt to pull apart the Obama coalition,” but that he had failed to achieve his goal. He said Trump’s attempts to pull in African-Americans were doomed because the candidate refused to talk about criminal justice reform. “It’s hard to get a job if you’re a community that’s overpoliced and you have a criminal record,” Jones said.
Jones finished his rant with maximum drama, telling the CNN panel that he feared the worst from the Trump movement.
“I have read in history, being in moments where there’s some big authoritarian movement of some leader that’s rising up,” Jones said ominously. “And I felt that way tonight and it was terrifying to me. This speech divided the country. You’re either inspired by this or you’re terrified by it. I’m terrified by it.”
Think back over the last ten or twenty years and try to remember a time when mainstream liberal pundits were this frazzled. They can’t believe what they are witnessing. A full-scale, prime time repudiation of absolutely everything they stand for. Was Trump’s speech “dark”? You’re damn straight it was dark; when you decide to get up there and tell the truth about what’s happening to this country, there’s no other possible tone to take. Trump’s theme is winning, but even he recognizes that he will face enormous challenges should he be elected president. And he’s not willing to do what many other Republican politicians do, which is to pretend that everything is all right.
Everything’s not all right. And if the themes Trump spoke of Thursday night are enough to “terrify” the liberals in the mainstream press, then it’s the surest sign yet that we picked the best possible nominee.
