𝐂𝐍𝐍'𝐒 𝐕𝐀𝐍 𝐉𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐒 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐒 𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐌𝐏 𝐕𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐉𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐂𝐔𝐋𝐓 𝐎𝐍 𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐓𝐕 CNN’s panel was supposed to deliver sober election-night analysis. Instead, viewers got Van Jones grinning ear to ear over Democratic wins and declaring, “𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘺 𝘫𝘰𝘺? 𝘐’𝘮 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺, 𝘐’𝘮 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺, 𝘐’𝘮 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺.” Jones rattled off his reasons: “𝘞𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘢𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦, 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴 𝘗𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘏𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘦. 𝘞𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘧𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘐𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴, 𝘑𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘢 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘰𝘯. 𝘞𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘨𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢. 𝘞𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦.” Fair enough — a win is a win, and Democrats are entitled to celebrate a good night. That’s where a normal segment would have ended. 𝐉𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐤𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠. “𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘌𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘉𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘏𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳,” he said. Then he reached for a comparison no cable news host should reach for on live national television. “𝘈𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘑𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘒𝘰𝘰𝘭-𝘈𝘪𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘑𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺,” Jones said, straight-faced, to a national audience. 𝐉𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐚 𝐩𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 — it’s the 1978 massacre where cult leader Jim Jones m∗rdered more than 900 of his own followers, over 300 of them children, with cyanide-laced punch. Jones wasn’t finished: “𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘒𝘰𝘰𝘭-𝘈𝘪𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺... 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘑𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵, 𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘑𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘴.” This is the same network that spends its days lecturing the country about “dehumanizing rhetoric.” 𝐎𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐓𝐕, one of its top anchors told tens of millions of Republican voters they’re on their way to a cyanide-poisoning massacre — and grinned while he said it. CNN didn’t cut away, didn’t push back, didn’t apologize. 𝐍𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐥 𝐛𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐲𝐞. For the network that polices everyone else’s words, this was just Tuesday night. 𝐕𝐚𝐧 𝐉𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐬-𝐦∗𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭’𝐬 𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐬 — 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲.