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Van Jones: ‘Mainstream Has Become Fringe’: ‘Trump Understood That And We Didn’t’

Charlie Kirk Staff

12/14/2024

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Van Jones: ‘Mainstream Has Become Fringe’: ‘Trump Understood That And We Didn’t’

CNN Democrat analyst Van Jones, a former strategist for former President Obama, said that the mainstream media has become the fringe and what used to be the fringe has become mainstream.

The analyst was speaking on a panel at this year’s New York Times/DealBook summit when he lamented the fact that there were podcasts that were doing far better viewership numbers than the struggling news network.

“I’m telling you, we are way off. The entire political class is way off. First of all, digital is the new doorknocking, you’ve got to understand that,” the analyst said.

“We were laughing our butts off at Donald Trump for suspending his door-knocking campaign and letting Charlie Kirk and Elon do a bunch of stuff online. We said, ‘There guys are idiots, these guys are stupid.’ And then you start knocking on these doors, and you know what people come to the door with? Their phone! In their hand. They’re in a 24-hour digital surround sound that has nothing to do with CNN, has nothing to do with anything we do,” Jones noted further.

“I have a teenage son. I asked him, “Who are the most influential people in the world right now?” I’m thinking he’s going to say Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Jay-Z. He says, [checks notes], ‘Kai Cent, Aiden Ross, Jynxzi, and Sketch.’ I don’t know who he’s talking about!” the analyst said.

“I asked, ‘What platforms are you on’ He said, ‘Twitch, Kik, and Rumble.’ That sounds like you need to go to the hospital. What are these platforms? I’m telling you guys, the mainstream has become fringe and the fringe has become mainstream. There are platforms, there are people out there that are getting 14 million streams and we’re on cable news getting 1 or 2 million,” Jones continued.

“There’s a whole world out there. Kellyanne Conway — I hate to agree with her — Donald Trump understood that and we didn’t. It’s not just Democrats. The entire political class is way off,” he said.

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Charlie Kirk is the Founder and President of Turning Point USA, a national student movement dedicated to empowering young people to promote the principles of free markets and limited government.

Charlie is also the host of “The Charlie Kirk Show” podcast, which regularly ranks among the top-10 news shows on Apple podcast news charts, and is the host of the nationally syndicated daily radio show on the Salem Radio Network live from 12 - 3 PM ET.
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