Vivek Ramaswamy ripped Van Jones on Sunday and said he should “shut up” for comments the CNN media figure made about the GOP presidential candidate at the last debate.
In comments earlier this month on CNN, Jones said in Ramaswamy, America was seeing the “rise of an American demagogue that is a very, very despicable person.”
“Just shut the f‑‑‑ up. At a certain point, just shut the f‑‑‑ up, Van Jones at CNN,” Ramaswamy responded Sunday in a speech at a Turning Point USA conference.
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“We demand a government that tells us the truth again in this country. That’s what we require. We can handle the truth. That’s what it means to be a citizen of this country,” Ramaswamy said.
Jones was specifically criticizing Ramaswamy and calling him despicable because of his invocation of the “Great Replacement Theory,” a white supremacist conspiracy theory that posits that liberals and Jewish people are seeking to replace white voters with migrants.
In seeing Ramaswamy reference the theory at the last debate, Jones said “I was shaking listening to him talk, because a lot of people don’t know. That is one step away from Nazi propaganda coming out of his mouth.”
Ramaswamy, who has seen support for his GOP presidential campaign fade in recent polling, criticized both Jones and the media in his speech Sunday.
“And then you get the mainstream media. You got this character, Van Jones, on CNN afterwards saying, ‘This is the rise of an American demagogue, who’s going to live 50 years longer than Trump. This is dangerous. I am shaking.’ That’s what he says. Just shut the f‑‑‑ up. At a certain point, just shut the f‑‑‑ up. Van Jones at CNN,” Ramaswamy continued.
The Hill has reached out to representatives of Jones for comment.
Ramaswamy was sharply criticized following the most recent debate for his invoking of the Great Replacement Theory and several other far-right conspiracy theories.