Dear Commons Community,

I was on a plane last night and did not watch any of the Republican National Convention.  I read several recaps this morning and I thought the comments from Van Jones were the most provocative.

Jones offered a blistering critique of two speeches given on the second day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.  He also named which conservative speaker he believed was “incredibly compelling.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, said Jones, was “terrible.”

“Ron was terrible,” Jones repeated. “He just sounded like ChatGPT for mean people. Every mean thing a Republican could say, he said it really fast and it didn’t really work very well.”

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, meanwhile, looked like she’d been made to attend “her ex-husband’s wedding and give a toast,” Jones joked.

“She was miserable saying it and Trump was miserable hearing it. So all that stuff didn’t work at all,” he summarized.

Both DeSantis and Haley fiercely criticized Trump during the Republican presidential primary race but have now endorsed the party’s nominee.

In contrast, Jones said Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders “was incredibly compelling to me” because she “told personal stories” and “didn’t use rhetoric.”

“She gave the speech of the night,” he argued.

Jones also called out the way that immigrants were portrayed during multiple speeches, saying that to falsely blame them for the majority of crime is “unfair” and “unwarranted.”

A video of his comments is below.

Tony

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