van jones messy truth january 25 2017
Van Jones: What's going on in America?
04:56 - Source: CNN

“The Messy Truth,” a special program hosted by Van Jones, airs at 9 p.m. ET Wednesday on CNN.

Story highlights

Trump does not see himself as a normal politician, Van Jones says

Donald Trump made comments Monday that 3 to 5 million votes in this year's election were illegal

CNN  — 

It’s only been five days since the inauguration of President Donald Trump and it’s been a week filled with executive actions and demonstrations. In the CNN series “The Messy Truth,” airing Wednesday night, host Van Jones asks whether it’s week one of a Trump presidency or week one of anti-Trump resistance.

“The truth has never been messier than it has been these past six days,” he said. “We’ve got a boastful, strong man who plays fast and loose with the facts.”

Jones, an outspoken Democrat and former adviser to the Obama administration, argued that in a divided nation there must be an attempt to understand our new President.

“Consider there may actually be a method to all this madness,” he said. “Remember, Trump does not see himself as a normal politician. And he never had the strategy of a normal politician. A normal politician who wants to prove himself would just point to the Constitution and the Electoral College and be done with it. But notice something, Trump almost never mentions the Constitution. Instead, he talks about polls and ratings and crowd sizes. Why? Because Trump sees himself as the leader of a mass movement – first and foremost.”

Jones said when tackling the unproven claims Trump has made since November’s election, alleging millions of illegal votes were cast, Americans need to understand his mythology and strategy, which is to position himself as a populist president.

“It actually rational in his mind for him to talk numbers,” he said. “It’s not just psychopathy. It’s also strategy.”

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