CNN analysts debate Trump, racism
CNN on Wednesday brought out analysts Van Jones and Jeffrey Lord to reprise their heated debate from the previous night over Donald Trump and the Ku Klux Klan during their network’s coverage of Super Tuesday.
The pair’s clash Tuesday night during an impromptu debate on the network quickly trended on social media as Lord, a supporter of Trump who is white, sought to defend the GOP front-runner’s comments on the Ku Klux Klan.
{mosads}Appearing alongside Jones, a progressive activist who is black, for 20 minutes Wednesday on CNN’s “New Day,” Lord continued to claim the progressive movement has for decades seized on race for a particular agenda.
“Race fuels the progressive movement and has always fueled the progressive movement, whether it was slavery, segregation, lynching, the Ku Klux Klan, today’s racial quotas, illegal immigration by skin color, groups like La Raza, the Black Panthers, Black Lives Matter … it’s always about, let’s divide people by race and then here’s the progressive agenda we want to enact,” Lord said.
“David Duke was a big supporter of Occupy Wall Street, right there with President Obama,” Lord added, referring to the former KKK grand wizard.
“It was not progressives trying to keep slavery in place,” Jones shot back. “Frankly, people of conscience of both sides fought against that.”
Jones noted that Trump has repeatedly offered impassioned rhetoric against groups like the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which he has vowed to “bomb the s—” out of, but when asked during a press conference last week about the support of Duke, a white supremacist, Trump simply brushed off the support.
Lord and Jones continued to spar Wednesday over incidents of race emerging in the 2016 race, with Jones alluding to a Trump rally in November when a physical altercation broke out between a black protester and several white attendees. Other clashes have erupted in subsequent events.
“Let’s talk about people being beat up at your rallies today,” Jones said, turning to Lord, “Do you care about the black kids that are getting beat up at your rallies?”
“But why are they ‘black’ kids, man?” Lord asked.
“Because their parents are black, because their grandparents,” Jones started with a laugh.
“No, no, no, no, they are Americans,” Lord responded.
“Americans aren’t getting beat up at your rallies, black kids are,” Jones said.
Jones went on to note that after Trump’s quick, “I disavow, OK?” at a press conference last week, Trump dodged during a CNN interview Sunday when asked about disavowing Duke and the KKK, sparking condemnation.
“That sent the shockwaves,” Jones said of Trump’s quick dismissal of Duke’s support. “Then when he comes back and he is even more hedgy, that’s when the floor fell out from under the black community.”
“Everybody makes mistakes as they go along,” Lord said. “But I’m more than comfortable that he’s not a racist, which is the implication here.”
Jones retorted the question was whether Trump would “play funny” with racism.
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