Van Jones: Trump’s election showing a ‘whitelash’

Democratic political commentator Van Jones argued early Wednesday that the election, which showed Republican Donald Trump within reach of becoming president, was racially charged.

“This was a whitelash. This was a whitelash against a changing country, it was a whitelash against a black president in part,” Jones, a former adviser to President Obama, said on a CNN panel after midnight Tuesday.

{mosads}Jones slammed what he saw as a racially divisive campaign by Trump, and said that race had rarely been discussed in the hours since Trump’s victory became likely.

“Donald Trump has a responsibility tonight to come out and reassure people that he is going to be the president of all the people who he insulted and offended and brushed aside,” Jones said.

Jones painted a dark picture of the U.S. under Trump, saying numerous friends of his who are Muslim, immigrants, racial minorities or members of other groups fear Trump’s presidency and are contemplating leaving the country.

“People have talked about a miracle. I’m hearing about a nightmare,” Jones said. “It’s hard to be a parent tonight for a lot of us. You tell your kids ‘don’t be bully,’ you tell your kids, ‘don’t be a bigot.’ You tell your kids, ‘do your homework and be prepared.’ And then you have this outcome and you have people putting children to bed tonight and they are afraid of breakfast. They’re afraid of, ‘how do I explain this to my children?’”

The Democratic strategist called on Trump to represent everyone, not just the people who voted for him, since minorities feel a similar pain to white voters who felt Democrats do not represent them.

“You’ve got a lot of people who feel that we’re not represented well either,” he said.