On Tuesday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” CNN Senior Political Commentator and former Obama Adviser Van Jones stated that being “reflexively anti-Bibi Netanyahu, reflexively anti-Trump” is the cause of “a lot of” Democratic opposition to the Iran strikes, Trump “violating the Constitution” is another factor, and Iran has launched a PR campaign on social media, including TikTok, and “we’ve got to do a better job of making people understand, the bully and the bad guy in that region is Iran.”
While talking about polling on the strikes on Iran, Jones said, “[T]he difference between ISIS and Iran is ISIS did not have a PR budget. Iran is doing a remarkable job of shaping public perception online. If you look at TikTok, they are presenting themselves as a victim, a party that had a deal with America, that America tore up the deal, and they’ve been trying to get along and now they’re being bullied. And that is being very effective. And so, ISIS had no PR budget. They were just chopping heads off. People could see…ISIS for what it is. People are having a hard time seeing Iran for what it is, which is a brutal, horrific dictatorship that kills gays, that blinds women, and that has had a whole circling campaign around Israel of people firing rockets and killing people. So, Iran’s public image is very different than ISIS.”
Co-host Kate Bolduan then asked, “And this is something that you spoke to this weekend before, it was pretty prescient, that you said this weekend before the U.S. operation occurred. Do you see that as what is driving the Democratic divide on this?”
Jones answered, “Well, look, I think, first of all, a lot of Democrats are very frustrated with Israel and its conduct in Gaza. That shapes a lot of opinion. They’re reflexively anti-Bibi Netanyahu, reflexively anti-Trump. So, the Democrats are not going to be supportive in general, just reflexively. And the Constitution was violated. Though presidents keep violating the Constitution, bombing people with no permission. But I do think that we’ve got to do a better job of making people understand, the bully and the bad guy in that region is Iran. Israel makes mistakes, does things I don’t like, but Israel does not have terror proxies around Iran raping people and sending in rockets and — but that PR battle is being lost, I think, by Israel, and, online and social media, won by Iran.”
Later, he added that “if you had a functional government, the smartest people in the Democratic Party, the smartest people in the Republican Party, and Trump would be sitting down trying to figure this out together, trying to come up with a creative solution. The problem is, the president is on his own. He’s not listening to any Democrats. Congress is not being briefed.” And there isn’t an “obvious” solution to Iran.
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