CNN, MSNBC anchors hold back tears after stunning Trump win: ‘Nightmare’
MSNBC and CNN anchors held back tears and questioned the state of America as they reckoned with a stunning win by former President Donald Trump during the early hours of Wednesday.
CNN political commentator Van Jones appeared to be on the verge of weeping as it became increasingly apparent that Trump would handily defeat Vice President Kamala Harris in Tuesday’s election.
Jones, the former Obama administration official and Democratic Party activist, gave a somber assessment of the election late Tuesday, saying he “woke up this morning with a dream” only to be “going to bed with a nightmare.”
“I’m thinking about the people who are not a part of anybody’s elite, who are hurting tonight,” Jones told CNN co-panelists on Tuesday as the vote count in the key battleground states showed Trump well positioned to capture a second term in the White House.
Meanwhile, MSNBC anchor Jen Psaki, who served as White House press secretary during the Biden administration until 2022, predicted the Democratic Party would begin questioning its decision to oust President Biden from the race.
“It will begin,” Psaki said on NBC News late Tuesday, before the network had projected a winner. “She’s run a campaign over the course of 107 days. That is not something we’ve seen in history. And there’ll be lots of questions about exactly that, the timing and the impact of that.”
By Wednesday morning, the Associated Press, the New York Times and major news networks including NBC and CNN had called the election for Trump.
MSNBC panelists reflected on Trump’s overwhelming dominance among swing states, as well as an outpouring of Republican votes that gave the GOP control of the Senate.
“We had talked about a red wave two years ago that never materialized,” “Morning Joe” anchor Joe Scarborough said Wednesday. “I’ve got to say, this is the biggest red wave I’ve seen since Ronald Reagan’s 49-state victory in 1984. It seems every Republican across the country improved.”
“Morning Joe” panelist Claire McCaskill, the former United States senator from Missouri, acknowledged the “red wave” and placed into question the Democratic Party’s understanding of the country.
“I think we have to acknowledge that Donald Trump knows our country better than we do,” she said. “I think he figured out that anger and, frankly, fear were way more powerful than appealing to people’s better angels. That anger and fear were going to work in this election.”
As of around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, the Associated Press reported Trump had won key battleground states and clinched victory with 277 electoral votes.
CNN’s Jones said black women in particular, “who know a little bit about being talked down to” and “having their economic dreams crushed,” are “trading in a lot of hope for a lot of hurt” because “they were hoping that … one of their own could be seen as worthy.”
Trump has vowed to crack down on illegal immigration during his term in office. Jones said that those who “don’t have papers” have reason to be “terrified tonight.”
MSNBC panelists reacted to an increasingly conservative country.
“America, first of all, is far more to the right than anytime in our lifetimes, even going back to the Reagan years,” Scarborough said.
The “Morning Joe” host said Republicans will likely dominate all branches of government for the next several years.
“The scope and scale of this victory is sweeping,” Scarborough said Wednesday. “This is a Democratic Party that has been just wiped out this morning.”
McCaskill claimed Trump had won the presidency by playing on voters’ fears.
“Whether you’re afraid of immigrants or afraid of people who are trans, he figured that out. And I think we all thought everyone’s better angels would prevail,” she said. “Turns out, the better angels went on vacation when Donald Trump came down the escalator. And they haven’t returned.”
