Radio host Charlamagne tha God ripped CNN’s Van Jones on Wednesday after Jones criticized New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s fiery victory speech.
According to Fox News, Jones argued on CNN’s election night panel that Mamdani showed a “character switch” during his address Tuesday night.
“I think he missed a chance tonight to open up and bring more people into the tent,” Jones said. “I think his tone was sharp. I think he was using the microphone in a way that he was almost yelling. And that’s not the Mamdani that we’ve seen on TikTok and the great interviews and stuff like that, so I felt like there was a little bit of a character switch here where the warm, open, embracing guy that’s close to working people was not on stage tonight, and there was some other voice on stage.”
Charlamagne fired back during his “Donkey of the Day” segment the next morning.
“Man, shut the F up forever, okay? Damn. There was no opportunity missed. The man just won,” Charlamagne said. “After you won, yes, you’re going to celebrate. Yes, you’re going to talk loud. What do you mean he wasn’t warm enough? He took a victory lap, and he deserved to take a victory lap because he won.”
He continued, “I just don’t understand how in the era of Trump, we’re still telling people how to talk. The language of politics is dead, and Donald Trump killed it. And you know when you can really talk that talk? After you win.”
Charlamagne said he wasn’t sure which part of Mamdani’s speech Jones objected to, guessing it may have been when the mayor-elect compared wealthy New Yorkers and landlords to President Donald Trump.
“If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him,” Mamdani said during his victory speech.
Charlamagne defended Mamdani’s rhetoric.
“The reason a lot of things don’t change in this country is because you don’t have enough politicians that are willing to challenge capitalism, and Zohran is doing that. So, how can Van Jones be mad that someone is challenging capitalism and authoritarian strategy?”
He then asked his guest, former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan, why Jones might have viewed the speech as divisive.
Hasan said it was hard to guess Jones’ mindset but noted that Jones had previously praised President Donald Trump’s first address before a Joint Session of Congress in 2017, saying Trump “became President of the United States in that moment.”
“So Van Jones thinks that Donald Trump gives unifying speeches that make him president, but thinks Zohran Mamdani, who’s united a multi-racial, multicultural, multi-income coalition, is divisive? That tells you more about Van Jones than it does tell you about Zohran Mamdani,” Hasan said.
