As President-elect Donald Trump surged to victory against Hillary Clinton early Wednesday, not everyone was excited about the changing of the guard. Enter CNN's Van Jones, a former official in President Barack Obama's administration, who voiced the concerns of Americans who might be fearful about a Trump presidency.
“People have talked about a miracle,” Jones said. “I’m hearing about a nightmare. It’s hard to be a parent tonight for a lot of us. You tell your kids, ‘Don’t be a bully.’ You tell your kids, ‘Don’t be a bigot.’ You tell your kids, ‘Do your homework and be prepared.’ And then you have this outcome, and you have people putting children to bed tonight, and they’re afraid of breakfast. They’re afraid of, ‘How do I explain this to my children?’ I have Muslim friends who are texting tonight saying, ‘Should I leave the country?’ I have families of immigrants that are terrified tonight.
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“This was many things. This was a rebellion against the elites. True. It was a complete reinvention of politics and polls, it’s true. But it was also something else."
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He added, "We haven’t talked about race. ... This was a whitelash against a changing country. It was a whitelash against a black president in part. And that’s the part where the pain comes.”
As for the communities who felt marginalized by Trump's dialogue throughout his campaign, Jones said Trump "has a responsibility to prove that he is going to a president to all the people he insulted.”
– The Cox Media Group National Content Desk contributed to this report.
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