‘Hate wave’ could move north, CNN contributor says at AGO
Van Jones drew attention on election night when he called Trump’s victory a ‘whitelash’
CNN political contributor and former Obama White House adviser Van Jones warned that Canada is not immune to the offensive and divisive rhetoric that he says powered Donald Trump to victory in the U.S. presidential election.
Speaking to media at the Art Gallery of Ontario before delivering the keynote address at the Broadbent Institute’s Progress Gala on Tuesday evening, Jones urged Canadians to be proactive in preventing Trump’s politics from seeping north of the border.
“People keep saying that this hate wave that’s moving across the west cannot hit Canada,” he said. “And you are wrong. It is happening throughout the western democracies.”
Jones drew attention on election night when he referred to presidentelect Trump’s victory as a “whitelash” on CNN.
He said those comments referred to the strain of “racist, xenophobic sentiment growing in our country” that in part drove Trump’s success.
“It found a home in the Trump campaign and I will tell you that it can find a home in your country too if you don’t stand up to it,” he said.
He said the American working class, especially white members of society, have rightly felt left behind.
The problem is that they have reacted in shocking, unfair ways, according to Jones.
“The Democrats have allowed a safe haven for a kind of snobbery and elitism that is offensive to most of the country and they won’t admit it and they won’t do anything about it,” Jones said.
“The worst possible thing you can say to any American right now is you got a Thanksgiving in two days, because nobody wants to go home and have this fight around the kitchen table. The country is so divided over these two broken parties that no one even wants to go home for Thanksgiving.”
Jones said Democrats should try to work with Trump on issues such as infrastructure, however it’s difficult to know what his priorities will be.
He referred to “teleprompter Trump” and “terrible Trump,” the latter of which is infamous for late- night tweets and flip-flopping on policy.
“But if he’s going to combine that with attacking Muslims, with attacking immigrants, especially the young dreamers, then it’s going to be a very tough town to get anything done in,” Jones said.
“I don’t think that the majority of even Trump voters signed up for the worst of what Trump is talking about. If he thinks he has a mandate to attack American Muslims who are serving in our military who have the lowest crime rates, who have the highest educational attainment in our country, he’s wrong.”
There’s a difference between being willing to give Trump a chance, versus “a pass on putting white nationalists in the White House,” Jones said, noting the president-elect had retweeted more white nationalists groups than civil rights groups.
He called Trump’s campaign the most irresponsible in American history, leading to a wave of hateful rhetoric and the empowerment of neoNazi groups post-election.
“This could get worse before it gets better,” Jones said.
“Every single part of civil society in Canada, United States and around the world needs to get very vocal right now, needs to stand up right now and say, ‘Hands off Muslim women who are just doing nothing but walking down the street, hands off the dreamers and other young immigrants who are not doing anything wrong but going to school and hoping to have a better life.’ ”
“People keep saying that this hate wave that’s moving across the west cannot hit Canada, and you are wrong. It is happening throughout the western democracies.” VAN JONES CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR AND FORMER OBAMA WHITE HOUSE ADVISER