Van Jones: Trump’s VP Pick Is a Horror on the World Stage

BEDINGFIELD: “But I would just say quickly, I mean, I think part of the reason that it has muted that conversation and why I think the Vance pick doesn‘t argue for Biden to be replaced is in some ways it does bring the conversation about the race, the narrative of the presidential race, back to a place where Joe Biden is strong. I mean, this is the soul of the nation argument. This is protecting democracy. This is a sense of, ‘We want somebody in the office who has wisdom and experience and a steady hand.’ I mean, I think the dynamics of this conversation go back to places Joe Biden is stronger. And so I think that that is a compelling reason. I would also just say, Scott said a few minutes ago that Donald Trump is a moderate, and I just don‘t think we can let that hang out in the air. He is — “
JENNINGS: “He is a moderate.”
Goldberg: “Steve Bannon said he is.”
BEDINGFIELD: “Yeah, because of Steve Bannon, he is a moderate. But come on.”
JENNINGS: “He’s not a particular conservative Republican. He is not. He never has been.”
BEDINGFIELD: “Three justices on the Supreme Court who overturned Roe v. Wade, which has been the conservative goal for the last 50 years.”
JENNINGS: “But he is not the same as Ted Cruz. He is not the same as the Heritage Foundation. He‘s not an orthodox conservative Republican in the way you all have tried to define or malign him for the last several decades. He is different and everybody knows it, and it‘s one of the reasons he has so many working class appeal.”
Jones: “I agree with you, because the traditional conservative Republican would not support an insurrection. A traditional Republican would not say he‘s going to pardon traitors and treasonous people who attacked our government. You‘re correct, he‘s not. He‘s worse. Worse. He‘s much worse. But I think, you know, part of the reason that J.D. Vance matters isn‘t for these kind of short-term electoral calculations. He matters because what he means for a Republican Party long-term. This is cementing a kind of nationalism. Now, Trump, to your point, I agree with you, he‘s an instinctive, impulsive, intuitive nationalist. J.D. Vance is an ideological nationalist. That‘s a much more dangerous virus because he can make this — he can Polish this stuff and make it seem palatable to people. He can sell this stuff to Silicon Valley. He can sell this stuff other places. And what it does is it locks the Republican Party on a pathway that I think is dangerous for the world. Again, the Ukrainians are now in deep trouble. NATO is now in deep trouble. Trump is — he could have gone with a Nikki Haley and signal to the world, ‘Hey, listen, I got to give stuff to my base, but I‘m not going to abandon the world.’ This pick is a horror on the world stage. So J.D. Vance matters because Donald Trump is pointing the Republican Party in a very scary direction for the long-term.”