Van Jones couldn’t contain himself on Tuesday as fellow CNN commentator Scott Jennings defended President Donald Trump’s record ahead of his State of the Union address.
During a CNN panel discussion before Trump delivered his 107-minute speech, Jennings argued that the current president inherited a “mess” from former President Joe Biden and was now “turning things around.”
“I think the president does have an affirmative case to make on why his policies are turning things around,” Jennings said. “Frankly, he‘s going to have to continue to talk to people about the mess that he inherited from the Biden administration.”
As Jennings spoke, Jones smirked and rolled his eyes on camera.
“It‘s one of the reasons we did have swing areas go back from Democrat to Republican in the last election,” Jennings continued. “I‘m expecting a lot of talk about immigration and also public safety. I think the president‘s best issue is still immigration. He‘s closed the border. He inherited a mess. He can, I think, affirmatively claim that he has fixed it. I think the public safety aspect of this is still working for him.”
Trump has repeatedly argued that he inherited economic and immigration crises from Biden.
“I inherited the worst inflation in history,” the president said in December.
On Tuesday night, Trump again defended his economic record.
“The roaring economy is roaring like never before,” Trump said during the address. “Inflation is plummeting, incomes are rising fast.”
He also blamed Democrats for rising prices.
Trump said the “same people in this chamber who voted for those disasters suddenly used the word affordability—a word they just used, somebody gave it to them—knowing full well that they caused and created the increased prices that all of our citizens had to endure.”
“You caused that problem,” he added while gesturing toward Democratic lawmakers.
The president has spent months attempting to convince voters that his economic agenda is delivering results, even as many Americans struggle with high prices, and as household debt has reached an all-time high. He has repeatedly dismissed affordability concerns as a “hoax,” frustrating many of his own voters.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
