Van Jones on Trump win: 'It turned out we were the idiots'

CNN pundit Van Jones says Democrats' media strategy is a major reason Vice President Harris lost this week's presidential election to former President Trump.

"We got beat because the conservatives and Republicans built a different media system," Jones said on the channel Thursday. "It had to do with online, had to do with podcasts, with streaming platforms. And they were spending their money there."

Jones bemoaned that many Democrats and mainstream media outlets were "laughing at Trump for throwing away his ground game and doing weird stuff online."

"It turned out we were the idiots," he continued. "We woke up in a body bag because while we were knocking on doors, they were making these phones into 24-hour-a-day political weapons for themselves."

Trump won handily Tuesday, sweeping the seven swing states after weeks of spurning interviews with mainstream media outlets. He opted instead for appearances on popular podcasts and internet programs — including Joe Rogan's and other shows with audiences predominantly made up of young men, a voting bloc the GOP candidate aggressively courted.

The former president has also kept close to Tucker Carlson, a former Fox News host who now presides over a program on the social platform X, and the platform's owner, Elon Musk, during his run for the White House.

Though Democrats had some success downballot, they are likely facing a GOP trifecta for at least the next two years; in addition to winning the White House, Republicans flipped the Senate on Tuesday and are favored to maintain a slim House majority.

The Election Day losses have sparked much soul-searching and finger-pointing within the Democratic Party, which is attempting to regroup and chart a new path forward after Trump become the first Republican presidential candidate since 2004 and just the second since 1988 to win the popular vote.