Former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann called on CNN to fire Van Jones, one of their chief political correspondents, for praising Trump’s strength and criticizing Biden’s weakness. On Wednesday night, Van Jones appeared on a panel with the network’s other political commentators to discuss the Republican National Convention and the election.
‘Today is terrible day,’ the one-time Obama adviser said. ‘If you pull back and look at this thing: strength versus weakness. A bullet couldn’t stop Trump. A virus just stopped Biden.’ Jones’s remarks referred to the attempted assassination of Trump on Saturday at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania , where a shooter opened fire on the former president. In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Trump announced that despite his injury- a bullet pierced his ear- the RNC would proceed as scheduled.
On Sunday – only a day after the incident- the former president landed in Milwaukee, ready for the event. President Biden, however, tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday, forcing him to scrap a Las Vegas campaign event. Jones, who served as Obama’s Special Advisor for Green Jobs, juxtaposed Trump’s strength with Biden’s weakness.
This prompted Keith Olbermann, a former MSNBC host, to call on CNN to fire Jones for complimenting Trump. ‘HEY CNN,’ Olbermann wrote on X.com in all caps. ‘Fire this [expletive]/moron/Trumpsucker @VanJones68 TONIGHT. Your remaining 837 viewers will accept no less.’ This does not mark the first time the former MSNBC host focused his frustration on CNN.