CNN analyst Van Jones celebrated Democrats’ midterm wins Tuesday night, describing the results as a rejection of President Donald Trump and comparing the Republican losses to the Jonestown tragedy.
“I’m happy, happy, happy,” Jones said. He called the results “way bigger,” likening them to several holidays rolled into one. He said voters had shown that leaders who try to entrench themselves in power can be turned out: “Twenty-four months later, ‘Knock it off, we don’t want it.’”
Jones then invoked the 1978 mass murder-suicide at the Peoples Temple settlement in Jonestown, Guyana, where more than 900 people died after cult leader Jim Jones urged followers to drink cyanide-laced beverages.
“If you join a cult, at some point the cult leader takes you to Jonestown and tries to get you to drink the Kool-Aid,” he said, applying the comparison to the Republican Party. Jones argued that Republican candidates were losing because party members had failed to stand up to Trump when, in his view, Trump was breaking laws and undermining the political system.
“It’s Jonestown tonight,” Jones added. “You join a cult, at some point, you go to Jonestown. That’s where you are tonight, Republicans.”
CNN anchor Anderson Cooper turned to Republican panelist Scott Jennings, who was seated beside Jones, and joked, “Scott, I don’t know if you want to check what’s in your glass.”
“Do you realize I’m sitting right here? I can hear everything you’re saying,” Jennings replied. “I’ve been here the entire time.”
Jennings acknowledged that Republicans were suffering major losses. “I’m not going to sugarcoat it,” he said, describing the results as a “country a– whooping” across the board.
He said there were many reasons for the outcome, but pointed to the cost of living and gas prices as the most immediate concerns. Voters, he said, were focused on problems affecting them right now, and that was the main lesson to take from the results.
