Van Jones: GOP Stood Against Campus Antisemitism While There’s Some Dem ‘Disarray’

During CNN’s coverage of Wednesday’s Republican presidential debate, CNN Political Commentator and former Obama adviser Van Jones stated that Republicans “took advantage of some of the disarray in the Democratic Party and stuck up for Jewish kids who are scared to leave their dorm rooms and all of that kind of stuff and came very, very forcefully, saying that Jewish kids shouldn’t be scared to leave their dorm rooms in this country.” And that “was an important development in the conversation” on the issue.

Jones said, “I thought Nikki Haley gave a masterclass on foreign policy. I thought she gave a masterclass on abortion. If you just took those two clips, you could teach a course on political communication, conversation. She’s a force. I also thought — Israel was mentioned — I thought the Republican Party took advantage of some of the disarray in the Democratic Party and stuck up for Jewish kids who are scared to leave their dorm rooms and all of that kind of stuff and came very, very forcefully, saying that Jewish kids shouldn’t be scared to leave their dorm rooms in this country. And I thought that was an important development in the conversation overall.”

Later, he added, “We can’t have hate here. We can’t have people afraid here. We can’t have Jewish parents afraid to drop their kids off at the JCC here. And so — and if you let that become a partisan divide, I think that’s very, very dumb on the part of Democrats. It should not be hard for Democrats to stand up to hate here.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett