CNN analysts erupt into a fiery debate over Donald Trump and the KKK
A discussion between Donald Trump supporter Jeffrey Lord and Democratic analyst Van Jones escalated quickly Tuesday, with the men ultimately shouting at each other about the KKK, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and race in America.
Jones said that Trump's success has a "dark underside," and the Republican frontrunner has been "whipping up and tapping into and pushing buttons that are very frightening to me and to a lot of people." Trump, he continued, always takes a hard line when it comes to Islamic terrorists, but is "playing funny with the Klan. That's not cool." Lord interjected to call the KKK a "leftist terrorist organization" that served as the "military arm, the terrorist arm, of the Democratic Party, according to historians."
"We're not going to play that game," Jones retorted, saying this isn't the "Democratic Party of today, so why are you bringing that up now?" He admonished Lord to "take a serious look at the fact that this man has been playing fast and loose and footsie. When he starts talking about terrorism, he gets passionate. He says, 'No, this is wrong.' But when you talk about the Klan, 'Oh, I don't know, I don't know.' That's wrong." Jones called Lord out for previously saying this was "just like when Rev. Wright was speaking. Rev. Wright never lynched anybody, Rev. Wright never killed anybody, Rev. Wright never put somebody on a post. You guys play these word games, and it's wrong."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Lord accused Jones and liberalism as a whole of "dividing people by race," and said "we have to be passionate about making this country color blind." Bringing up a quote by President Kennedy, Lord continued: "Race has no place in American life or law, and that's what we have to do. We have lost that totally because the Democratic Party insists on dividing people by race. It's wrong, it's morally wrong." Watch the video below. Catherine Garcia
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Saving for a down payment on a house? Here is how and where to save.the explainer The first step of the homebuying process can be one of the hardest
-
Music reviews: Zach Bryan, Dry Cleaning, and Madison BeerFeature “With Heaven on Top,” “Secret Love,” and “Locket”
-
Book reviews: ‘The Mattering Instinct: How Our Deepest Longing Drives and Divides Us’ and ‘Family of Spies: A World War II Story of Nazi Espionage, Betrayal, and the Secret History Behind Pearl Harbor’Feature The pursuit of ‘mattering’ and a historic, devastating family secret
-
Rep. Ilhan Omar attacked with unknown liquidSpeed Read This ‘small agitator isn’t going to intimidate me from doing my work’
-
Democrats pledge Noem impeachment if not firedSpeed Read Trump is publicly defending the Homeland Security secretary
-
The billionaires’ wealth tax: a catastrophe for California?Talking Point Peter Thiel and Larry Page preparing to change state residency
-
Hegseth moves to demote Sen. Kelly over videospeed read Retired Navy fighter pilot Mark Kelly appeared in a video reminding military service members that they can ‘refuse illegal orders’
-
Trump says US ‘in charge’ of Venezuela after Maduro grabSpeed Read The American president claims the US will ‘run’ Venezuela for an unspecified amount of time, contradicting a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio
-
Bari Weiss’ ‘60 Minutes’ scandal is about more than one reportIN THE SPOTLIGHT By blocking an approved segment on a controversial prison holding US deportees in El Salvador, the editor-in-chief of CBS News has become the main story
-
CBS pulls ‘60 Minutes’ report on Trump deporteesSpeed Read An investigation into the deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s notorious prison was scrapped
-
Trump administration posts sliver of Epstein filesSpeed Read Many of the Justice Department documents were heavily redacted, though new photos of both Donald Trump and Bill Clinton emerged
