On Thursday's “CNN Newsnight” broadcast, CNN senior political commentator and former Obama adviser Van Jones said Vice President Kamala Harris, a 2024 Democratic presidential candidate, isn't the only person who's changed: “Our entire party was on a weird pogo stick in 2020.”[s] A bunch of ideas that turned out to be bad ideas.”
Jones said he would be happy for Harris to talk more about fracking.[T]It’s totally ridiculous that now she’s going to stop fracking after four years of not trying to stop it. Why does she need that? Fracking gave us a geopolitical weapon against Putin. We were able to keep the European Union because Putin said, “If you support Ukraine, I’ll stop your gas supplies to Europe and freeze the Europeans in their beds.” The U.S. said, “No, don’t stop it.” You know why? The U.S. is now the largest exporter of natural gas in the world. We sent liquefied natural gas to Ukraine. So where did that gas come from? It came from fracking in Pennsylvania. So fracking in Pennsylvania is key to our geopolitical strategy. So if you want to have a conversation…Four years she did nothing to oppose fracking, why? The entire Democratic Party was silent on fracking, why? Not because of this election, but because that’s how you beat Putin.”
He added, “Donald Trump has changed his tune in the last few weeks on abortion and you're upset that she changed her mind. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) once called Trump Hitler and then he changed his mind. This happens in politics. People change. And I'm here to tell you, it's not just Kamala Harris that's moved. Our entire party has been on a weird pogo stick in 2020.[s] A bunch of ideas that turned out to be bad ideas.”
Jones then talked about how she has changed her thinking on energy, saying, “When I started my career, I thought we could get to our clean energy goals without fossil fuels, but that wasn't true. We realized that we actually needed a stronger combination. The entire party came to that conclusion four years ago. So people continue to point to ideas that I and others had that ultimately turned out to be unfeasible ideas. But the reality is, in California and elsewhere, the party has matured. And it's not just about Kamala Harris.”
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