Van Jones: Supreme Court losing ‘a game of chicken’ with Trump

CNN analyst Van Jones claimed former President Trump is playing “a game of chicken” with the Supreme Court and other federal entities over his ballot case and other legal battles.

“It’s just bizarre to me to watch the system continue to bend over backwards as he plays his chicken game with our system,” Jones said Thursday on CNN. “He is playing a game of chicken and every institution swerves, including the Supreme Court.”

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Thursday in the case seeking to remove Trump for the ballot in Colorado for his actions surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. The suit argues Trump should be disqualified under the 14th Amendment’s Insurrection Clause.

The justices appeared reluctant to take the step of disqualifying Trump. The two-hour argument largely consisted of justices delving into various off-ramps that would challenge the various arguments without examining whether Trump’s actions violated the amendment.

Jones said the arguments presented Thursday proved “Trump had a good lawyer.” He said the reluctance from the high court showed a “foregone conclusion” and said it is probably “very frustrating for a lot of people.”

“This is a Supreme Court that seems very strong when it’s time to take rights away from women, very strong when it’s time to take diversity programs away from college kids, very, very strong,” Jones said. “Voting rights away from Americans, very, very strong. But now, it’s time to disenfranchise a disenfranchiser and they’re just looking for the exits.”

“They can come up with an excuse to do whatever they want to, but on this one, they were trying to find any way not to do what I think a normal person looking at this would say,” Jones continued.

He argued that if former President Obama had refused to accept the results of the presidential election and “sent 10,000 Black Lives Matter people” to stop Congress from certifying the results, he would be in jail.

The Supreme Court will hear Trump’s ballot case on an expedited timeline, which means a decision could come within weeks.