CNN panelist Van Jones reflected the voices of multiple members of the network’s overwhelmingly liberal panel following Thursday’s presidential debate: Joe Biden should go.
“That was painful,” the former Obama White House official said, with evident emotion. “I love Joe Biden. I worked for Joe Biden. He didn’t do well at all. He did not do well at all.”
“I just want to speak from my heart. I love that guy. That’s a good man. He loves his country. He’s doing the best that he can. But he had a test to meet tonight to restore the confidence of the country and of the base and he failed to do that,” Jones continued.
“And I think there’s a lot of people who are going to want to see him consider taking a different course now. We’re still far from our convention and there is time for this party to figure out a different way forward, if he will allow us to do that,” the panelist said.
Jones concluded, “That was not what we needed from Joe Biden and it’s personally painful for a lot of people, it’s not just panic it’s pain.”
CNN’s Van Jones: “I love Joe Biden. I work for Joe Biden. He did not do well at all. It’s not just panic. It’s pain what we saw tonight” pic.twitter.com/NuUIBKDJtW
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) June 28, 2024
Last week, Jones stated that the debate was very high stakes for Biden.
“This is the entire election, as far as I’m concerned. The entire world will be watching,” Jones said. “If you are a carbon-based life form, you’re going to be watching. If you’ve got a functioning brain stem, you’re going to be watching
Will the Democrats replace Joe Biden on the ticket?
“Because, if Biden goes out there and messes up, it’s game over. If he walks out there, and a week later he’s lower in the polls, it’s panic in the party.”
CNN’s Van Jones doesn’t have faith in Biden:
“The entire world will be watching… If Biden goes out there and messes up, it’s game over.” pic.twitter.com/ds8EpWv0qw
— Raj Aryal (@rajaryal07) June 21, 2024
Thursday evening, fellow CNN panelist John King agreed with Jones that Biden did not meet the standard.
“This was a game-changing debate … There is a deep, a wide, and a very aggressive panic in the Democratic Party,” King said. “It started minutes into the debate and it continues right now.”
CNN’s John King reflects on #CNNDebate: “This was a game-changing debate…there is a deep a wide and a very aggressive panic in the Democratic Party. It started minutes into the debate and it continues right now.”
Biden’s performance: “Dismal” and Dems want him off the ticket. pic.twitter.com/R8wRoG7nNY— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) June 28, 2024
“It involves party strategists. It involves elected officials. It involves fundraisers.”
He went on to state that Democrats are now having conversations about how to remove Biden from the ticket.
CNN anchor Abby Phillip added that “Biden’s answers were, in a lot of cases, not coherent.”
Biden’s base saw a “president, who is in the White House, who they do not necessarily believe can do this for another four years.”
