President Donald Trump unleashed a new rant out of the blue Monday morning against lawyer and CNN analyst Van Jones, saying the news pundit should be “ashamed of himself.”
It is unclear if any specific comment from Jones, who briefly served in 2009 as a Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation for the Obama administration, inspired Trump’s Monday post or if it was just the result of the CNN analyst’s general criticisms of the president. Either way, the crux of Trump’s rant was a brief, successful collaboration he shared with Jones back in 2018.
“When a devastated (he was crying like a baby!) Van Jones of CNN came to me with a group of African American leaders, he had ‘DEAD’ in getting Criminal Justice Reform approved in Congress,” Trump wrote Monday on Truth Social. “Van Jones and these Black reps had been unsuccessfully fighting to get ‘Reform’ for many years. He was just wasting everyone’s time – Needed 5 Conservative Senators – there was no chance, or even hope, for a win. I liked some of the people he was with, agreed with what they were saying, and quickly rounded up the votes needed to get CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM approved.”
“It was NOT easy! Nobody else, including Obama, who tried to for years, could have done this!” the president insisted. “Now I watch this guy, Van Jones, every chance he gets, calling me a ‘Dictator,’ and far worse. He should be ashamed of himself!!!”
Trump’s post references the First Step Act of 2018, a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill that was signed into law that year. The bill, which was intended to improve criminal justice outcomes and reduce the federal prison population, passed through Congress and the Senate thanks to both Jones’ campaigning for it and Trump’s help.
Jones has remained a consistent critic of Trump’s presidency and behavior in the years preceding 2018 and since then. He is also, of course, far from the first media personality who has been publicly criticized by Trump in turn.
In recent weeks, the president has continued his long-standing feud with ABC late night host Jimmy Kimmel, calling for him to be fired by Disney. The president’s latest comments came in response to an ill-timed joke Kimmel told about First Lady Melania Trump having “the glow of an expectant widow” a few days before the assassination attempt on President Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner this year.
Trump called the joke a “despicable call to violence” and has maintained that Kimmel should be “immediately fired” from his late night position. Kimmel, for his part, has staunchly pushed back against the White House’s criticisms.
In early April, Trump also directed his ire toward MAGA media figures like Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens and Alex Jones, calling them “stupid people” after they came out against his handling of the war in Iran. In some cases, such as with Jones and Owens, they even called for Trump to be removed from office over his threats against Iran.
