CNN host Van Jones was overcome with emotion following the announcement by several major news networks that Joe Biden had won the 2020 presidential election.
Jones, who has been a vocal critic of President Trump during his term in the Oval Office, fought back tears while expressing what he called “vindication” hours after Biden became the apparent president-elect.
“It’s easier to be a parent this morning. It’s easier to be a dad, it’s easier to tell your kids character matters. It matters. Telling the truth matters. Being a good person matters,” Jones said. “If you’re Muslim in this country, you don’t have to worry if the president doesn’t want you here. If you’re an immigrant, you don’t have to worry if the president’s gonna be happier to have babies snatched away or send ‘Dreamers’ back for no reason. This is vindication for a lot of people who have really suffered.”
Trump has repeatedly claimed the election is not over and on Saturday afternoon claimed that he won the election, but media outlets are rejecting allegations of election fraud as vote-counting in several key battleground states continues.
Jones recalled the final words of George Floyd, a black man who died while in the custody of Minneapolis, to explain how it felt to live through Trump’s term in Washington.
“That was a lot of people that felt they couldn’t breathe,” Jones said. “Every day, you’re waking up and getting these tweets, and you just don’t know, and you go into the store, and people who have been afraid to show their racism get nastier and nastier to you, and you’re worrying about your kids, and you’re worrying about your sister: Can she just go to Walmart and get back into her car without someone saying something to her? And you spent so much of your life energy just trying to hold it together.”
Van Jones said that a Biden victory will provide peace in the country and said his victory was a “chance for a reset.”
“Being a good man matters,” Jones said. “I just want my sons to look at this, look at this. You know, it’s easy to do it the cheap way and get away with stuff, but it comes back around. It comes back around.”