Van Jones, I am sorry, but you are wrong.

[boston bean]

People who were supporting trump even after hearing his clear racist messaging, and people pointing it out, and white supremacists groups endorising him, didn't vote for a racist to pay us back because we noted this.

They voted for a racist and racist message because????? Figure it out.

My god!

[mcar]

1. I like Jones but disagree with him in this instance

[BobbyDrake]

3. I respect Jones, but he still works for CNN. Which means his analysis will be

75% contractually-obligated nonsense more often than not.

[duffyduff]

24. He works for Jeff Zucker. Enough said. n/t

[NoGoodNamesLeft]

4. Van Jones is 100% exactly RIGHT

But some people on this site refuse to see that because they refuse to accept the FACT that although racism, sexism and bigotry in all forms DOES exist and is a motivator for some voters (the alt-right mostly), it's not anywhere near as wide spread as some insist.

Van is SO RIGHT about the elitism. As someone who grew up in a rural area I can say the number one thing I heard regarding politics is frustration with the "city folks" who are trying to force their will onto country folks by way of gun control, rules and laws they deem pointless and being control freaks over everything they touch.

Keep right on calling these people racists and demonizing them and not only will you NEVER get those Democrat votes back, you will lose even more and NEVER win another election.

It's not the damn Republicans being racially divisive to voters...but this site sure as hell is. It needs to STOP.


Very few people vote over race. They vote over what is going to help them have a better life. Those rust belt people NEED JOBS. If Democrats had of dragged their collective asses to those rural areas and talked about jobs then Trump would not have gotten their votes.

Democrats are NOT entitled to voted...they have to get out and EARN them. That sense of entitlement to votes just because liberals think they are right is a perfect example of elitism and it turns the middle off. Seeing all this ignorant nonsense here is really pushing me away from voting Democrats next time and I've given my votes to them exclusively for over a decade now.

[Separation]

7. X100!

The message wasn't jobs, but vote for me. I'm not Trump, and I'll also be the first woman president!

My brother sadly voted for Trump when he mostly votes democratic. He didn't like Trump but he didn't like Clinton either. He told me, that it came down to what the base message was. He lives in Wisconsin btw.

[boston bean]

9. Rurals so judmental of us "urban elites". Hahaha. They are pure perfection!

[DanTex]

12. "It's not the damn Republicans being racially divisive to voters"??? You can't be serious.

Trump wants to ban Muslims, calls Mexicans rapists, says a judge can't do his job because of his race, and you don't think that's being racially divisive?

[uponit7771]

16. +1, notice the latest meme is '.. racism didn't matter that much..'

... as some people try and normalize Putin's puppet

[NoGoodNamesLeft]

26. Trump does not equal all republicans

Trump is a racially divisive asshole...and he is ONE person, not half of the goddamned country.

[mdbl]

33. then why did half the goddamned country vote for him?

clearly it can't be because they were well-informed forward thinking intellectuals.

[DeminPennswoods]

13. Oh no, that's wrong

Spend some time around the white working class. Once they think it's "safe" and that you're of the same mind as them, the bigotry and racism will come out.

[NoGoodNamesLeft]

27. I AM the white working class and I'm not that way

But hey...thanks for saying that I and my family (also white working class) are all racists. Our family also consists of black people, hispanic people, GLBT people, disabled people...but way to lump everyone together and stereotype. Guess that is only wrong if it's directed towards anyone who is not white. Keep right on denigrating Democratic voters and see how it works out for you.

If you're trying to discourage me from supporting Democrats you're doing a mighty find job.

[DeminPennswoods]

32. No, I'm not trying to discourage you

You might be an exception, but I've experienced more times than I care to, having a white acquaintance assume because I'm also white that I agree "they", meaning people who aren't like "us", are the problem.
I think there are many more closeted bigots and racists than perhaps you realize.

[uponit7771]

15. Overt strawman, doesn't have to be widespread just marginal

[Nwgirl503]

29. Where is the responsibility of the voter to inform themselves?

If Democrats had of dragged their collective asses to those rural areas and talked about jobs then Trump would not have gotten their votes.

It's like they're baby birds in the nest, beaks open, just waiting to swallow whole whatever drops in their mouths.

I never attended a rally or even watched one on TV. Yet amazingly I was able to research and educate myself on the issues and proposed policies by the candidates (or total lack thereof as the case may be). Is that what brands me as an elitist?

Personal responsibility needs to be put squarely where it belongs: on the back of each individual voter. Being able to research and disseminate readily available information is not something reserved for just the elite. Expectations of hand-holding of voters is the worst possible acceptance of dumbing down in politics imaginable. Every person has a duty to do their own due-diligence. Expectations of less, and worse...blaming and pointing the finger because someone didn't dumb it down enough, is counteractive.

We need educated citizens. Not those just sitting back waiting to have their gullet filled by whoever happens to drop something in their gaping maws.

[brush]

30. Wrong. Come to terms with it. A good part of the voters succumbed to their below the surface racism.

Last edited Fri Dec 9, 2016, 08:54 PM - Edit history (2)

Just look at how Obama has been treated.

Just look back at the history of the country.

It's undeniable to everyone but those in denial. Racism still hangs bigly over the nation.

We are barely a generation removed from de jure segregation/apartheid, and in nearly every city, town and village in the

country de facto segregation still exists.

The majority of whites, sorry to say, self-segregate, live in white neighborhoods (soon as a black family moves in for sale signs go up), go to white schools — the whole works, and it's been like that for centuries.

Trump knows it, is part of it, was sued for discriminating against black renters, bought white supremacists to prominent spots in his campaign, a y-u-u-u-g-e dog whistle to the below the surface racism that is widespread in the country.

It was heard loud and clear and acted on with votes for trump.

When you think about the history of the country, it's not a surprise.

What surprised me is how susceptible so many were to Trump's racist pied piper call, and fact that they were so unaware that repug obstructionism stymied Obama's agenda to give them the change they wanted. How could so many have not paid attention at all to the repug shenanigans that went on for the last eight years?

And what's surprising me now is the naivete of many here on DU who refused to acknowledge what's right before all of our eyes. The repug party has slyly been playing this game since the 60s. Trump just did it openly.

They might have wanted change but they voted for open racism and were ok with it.

[jalan48]

5. Perhaps it isn't all about race for all voters?

[NoGoodNamesLeft]

6. You're probably wasting your time...

I'm beginning to think that the people who are always assuming that everyone else is voting all about race may actually be the ones that vote all about race. It's getting ridiculous and really offensive around here.

[RoccoR2]

10. hear! hear!

Thanks

[bettyellen]

11. Ah the RW "reverse racism" canard.

[NoGoodNamesLeft]

28. There is no "reverse" anything...bigotry is bigotry and I'll call it out anywhere I see it

If you learn NOTHING about what is wrong with calling all white voters who didn't support Clinton racists then you are destined to lose over and over and over again.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

21. There are none so blind

as those who will not see. They believe what they wish to because they can't accept that there are people who don't agree with their vision. It's called bigotry and it is alive and well in the Democratic Party.

[uponit7771]

17. Doesn't have to be all .... Just some and that's enough

[jalan48]

18. Republican's have been playing the race card since the 1960's.

This is nothing new. It's what they do. To assume ALL white people who voted for Trump did so because of race makes little sense, especially since some of them voted for President Obama, twice. To continue to push such a meme is hurting our Party. We can't change racist minds except through education, especially targeting younger people.

[uponit7771]

19. again, doesn't have to be all just some and that's good enough

[jalan48]

20. Thanks. I'm glad you aren't calling all Trump voters racist.

Jobs is an issue that is important to all people. I hope we focus more on that next time.

[geek tragedy]

8. There's a large group of people who aren't allies but aren't die-hard enemies either. nt

[DeminPennswoods]

14. Trying to play nice with Santorum

I don't usually watch Van Jones, but I happened to tune in the night he was trying to get partisans to come together. It was pretty amusing to see Jones bare his feelings to Santorum, who is an Opus Dei catholic and theocrat at heart.

[JustinL]

22. he was right on election night, with his heartfelt "whitelash" remarks

It's been disheartening to see him participate in CNN's normalization of the fascist. I get the impression that the CNN bigwigs were highly displeased with Van's deeply moving, inconveniently true remarks.

[mdbl]

34. I agree.

Van Jones has succumbed to the money side of the argument and I don't expect much from him anymore. I quit watching him. He might gain a conservative audience though, isn't that now the goal of all the media?

[adigal]

23. I agree with you...I've done some writing about these entitled white rust belt voters

The white men have never had prejudice, never been judged as less than due to the color of their skin. They could have not even graduated high school and walked into a well paying union job with great benefits. Then, the factories went away, and rather than retrain, they want something for nothing and they want to whine, whine whine. That older white guy who said, "We are what makes the world go round," was it in a nutshell.

Entitled old and middle-aged white men.

[Cha]

25. Exactly boston "figure it out"

Not only that.. they support a sexual pervert.

[MFM008]

31. Look Jones was never on board with HRC

I never heard an endorsement from him. I don't watch him now.
And I wont.