Van Jones: DeSantis ‘sounded like ChatGPT for mean people’ at RNC

Democratic strategist Van Jones criticized Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) speech Tuesday evening at the Republican National Convention, saying he “sounded like ChatGPT for mean people.”

“He was terrible. Ron was terrible,” Jones said during a panel on CNN in response to the convention speech. “He just sounded like ChatGPT for mean people.”

“I mean, just every mean thing a Republican could say, he said it, really fast,” he continued. “And it didn‘t really work very well.”

Day 2 of the convention in Milwaukee concluded after hearing from a number of high-profile figures — including Senate candidates, House leadership and former rivals of former President Trump and his vice presidential hopefuls. The former president chose Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), who will speak Wednesday, as his running mate Monday.

DeSantis, once seen as the top Republican alternative to beat Trump in 2024, received roaring applause from the crowd at the start of his speech. He knocked President Biden amid concerns about his age and mental fitness, calling the administration a “‘Weekend at Bernie’s’ presidency.”

“Our enemies do not confine their designs to between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. … We need a commander in chief who can lead 24 hours a day and seven days a week,” DeSantis said. “America cannot afford four more years of a ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’ presidency.”

The Florida governor, who dropped his own bid for president in January, rejected the idea that his state is in play for Democrats this fall.

“For decades, my home state saw elections determined by razor-thin margins. Today, due to bold leadership, the Democratic Party lies in ruins. The left is in retreat,” DeSantis said. “Florida is a solid Republican state.”

Biden and his campaign team have said they’ll target flipping Trump’s home state in November.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who was Trump’s last remaining primary rival until she suspended her campaign in March, was added to the convention’s speaker’s list at the last minute. She opened her speech acknowledging she was there at the former president’s request “in the name of unity.”

After a heated primary race against the GOP nominee, Haley said Tuesday at the convention that Trump now has her “strong endorsement.”

Jones knocked her for her performance.

“Nikki Haley looked like somebody who had to go to her ex-husband‘s wedding and give a toast,” he said Tuesday. “She was miserable saying it, and Trump was miserable hearing it. So all that stuff just did not work at all.”

Jones said Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R), Trump’s former press secretary, gave “the speech of the night.”

“But Sarah Huckabee Sanders, she was incredibly compelling to me,” Jones said. “She told personal stories that landed. You know, there‘s a sense of aggrievement, I think, that conservatives feel — that liberal culture demeans them, attacks them, cancels them. She didn‘t use rhetoric. She told a personal story, and it was moving, and it was powerful.”

“I think having a Southern storyteller to bring that stuff home worked really, really well for them,” he added. “So, I think she gave the speech of the night.”