CNN journalist Van Jones couldn’t contain his emotions while talking about Joe Biden’s victory over President Donald Trump. Jones, his voice thickening as he wiped tears from his eyes, said the Democratic nominees’s victory was less about policy than it was a vindication of the importance of “being a good person.”
Jones said on CNN, in a viral moment that earned praise from Michelle Obama.
“Well, it’s easier to be a parent this morning. It’s easier to be a dad. It’s easier to tell your kids, ‘character matters,’” Jones said while on CNN on Saturday, as he began to wipe away tears. “Telling the truth matters. Being a good person matters.”
“It’s easier for a lot of people. If you’re Muslim in this country, you don’t have to worry if the president doesn’t want you here. If you’re an immigrant, you don’t have to worry if the president is going to be happier to have babies snatched away or send Dreamers back for no reason,” he continued, referencing Trump’s previous comments about immigrants.
“This is vindication for a lot of people who have really suffered,” he said through tears. “You know ‘I can’t breathe’? That wasn’t just George Floyd. That was a lot of people who have felt they couldn’t breathe. Every day, you’re waking up and you’re getting these tweets and you just don’t know — and you’re going to the store and people who have been afraid to show their racism are getting nastier and nastier to you.”