CNN commentator Van Jones said President Trump would get more credit for his policies among black voters if it weren’t for his personal messaging.
The former Obama administration adviser said on Friday he believes the president doesn’t get “enough credit” from the media about his policy outreach to black voters, citing opportunity zones and criminal justice reform, an endeavor which Jones worked on with the Trump administration. Although Trump has condemned white supremacy multiple times while in office and during his 2016 campaign, Jones made the case that Trump’s attitude toward white nationalists prevents a higher approval rating from minority voters.
“I think it’s really unfortunate because Donald Trump, and I get beat up by liberals every time I say this, but I’m gonna keep saying it, he has done good stuff for the black community. Opportunity zone stuff, black college stuff. I worked with him on criminal justice stuff. I saw Donald Trump have African American people, formerly incarcerated, in the White House — embraced them, treated them well. There’s a side to Donald Trump that I think he does not get enough credit for,” Jones said.
“But the reason he doesn’t is because he also says the most incendiary stuff. He retweets white nationalists, and he violates the No. 1 rule of blackness, which is, ‘I don’t mess with people who mess with people I don’t mess with,'” Jones continued. “In other words, I’m not friends with people who are friends of my enemies. And so, the black community can appreciate some of the stuff he’s done, but when they see him playing footsie on Twitter with these white nationalist organizations, it just wipes it all out.”
Jones said if Trump had consistent messaging that painted him as the “enemy” of white nationalists, his approval ratings among black people would rise.
