CNN commentator and former Obama administration official Van Jones quipped after former President Trump finished his lengthy acceptance speech on Thursday night that Democrats had “averted a crisis.”
Trump formally accepted the Republican nomination on Saturday after surviving an assassination attempt during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. His 92-minute speech at the Republican National Convention touched on Saturday’s turmoil, his family and President Biden, but critics like Jones called it disjointed and unfocused.
“Trump averted a crisis on Saturday and Democrats averted a crisis tonight,” Jones said after Trump’s speech – a comment that could be seen as insensitive given it had been less than a week since Trump was shot.
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CNN commentator Van Jones said Democrats narrowly avoided political disaster on Thursday because former President Trump’s speech was a “mess.” (Getty Images)
“It was a big mess,” Jones said, adding that Trump “just had a lot of power over it.”
The commentator said that if President Biden had delivered a speech “as disjointed, incoherent and undisciplined as that,” Democrats would have blocked him.
“He had the whole world on his hands,” Jones said of Trump’s political rise after the assassination attempt. “If he had just continued to run on a message of unity, he might have caused problems. He was out of control.”
Jones argued that Trump’s speech had returned the campaign to “normal campaign dynamics” from the unique political circumstances that followed his lifetime.
“Trump went to the most energetic convention, but he was boring,” Jones said. “He went to the most disciplined convention, but he was undisciplined.”
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Jones argued that Trump’s speech had returned the campaign to “normal campaign dynamics” from the unique political circumstances that followed his lifetime. (AP Photo/Jay C. Hong)
“You talk about unity for 10 minutes on a teleprompter, then you lash out at Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden and talk about Hannibal Lecter?” Jones said. “That’s not the new Trump.”
CNN commentator David Axelrod said after the speech that Trump’s comments were the first positive development for Democrats in weeks, given the confusion and growing calls for Biden to be removed from the 2024 presidential race.
Jones said Thursday that the excitement at this week’s Republican National Convention is comparable to what he saw when former President Barack Obama was first nominated in 2008.
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The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Fox News’ Alexander Hall contributed to this report.
