. >>> van jones is the host of the brand-new "the van jones show" premiering tomorrow on cnn. we will talk about that in a moment. thank you for being here. >> good to be here. >> democrats's worst fears almost came to pass. it turns out from multiple sources that the president did try to fire robert mueller and was stopped by the white house counsel who refused to go along with the directive. your thoughts? >> well, it's interesting. you had grassroots organizations like moveon.org preparing for the firing of mueller, had protests ready to go assuming this was going to happen because people's confidence in donald trump is very, very low. it wasn't the people who saved him, it was a white house staffer who saved them. that is where we are as a country. this is part of a bigger set of he revelations this week of

from "the van jones show," political commentator van jones. comedian josh gondelman.eaturing the 8g band with brann dailor. ♪ [ cheers and applause ] ladies and gentlemen, seth meyers. >> seth: good evening, everyone. i'm seth meyers. this is "late night." how is everybody doing tonight? [ cheers and applause ] that is great to hear. in that case, let's get to the news. press secretary sarah huckabee sanders said yesterday that the white house wants to see the russia investigation come to a complete and full conclusion. "uh, no, you don't," replied robert mueller. [ light laughter ] according to nbc news, special counsel robert mueller's team is expected to interview former white house strategist steve bannon by the end of the month. they'd do it sooner but they need to get their vaccines first. [ laughter ] according to sources, president trump will nominate his tax lawyer to be the new irs commissioner. and i actually -- [ laughter ] i actually think we have a photo of donald trump's tax lawyer. [ laughter and applause ] "shreddy. shreddy is going to do a great job.

heard, van jones has a brand-new show. it's premiering tonight at 7:00 eastern with a mega superstar guest. i'm talking about jay-z, the 21-time grammy award winner. cultural icon who was spotted strolling the halls of cnn just a short time ago, thrilling the staffers here in this building. known for his groundbreaking music, his savvy business acumen, and here's a sneak peek of the conversation with jay-z. >> we have a president who comes and says every african country is a shithole country. how does that land with you as a dad. >> it's disappointing and hurtful. more so, everyone feels anger, but after the anger is really hurtful, because he's looking down on a whole population of people. and he's so misinformed because these people have beautiful people and biefrl everything. it's like this is the leader of the free world speaking like this. but on the other side, this has been going on. this is how people talk. this is how they talk behind closed doors. there was a moment where donald sterling had been exposed as this

. >> talk about van jones. a few people make appearances and surprising him with that in a other conservatives at one point thought of a boogie man. what was your experience? >> i was included. with the radical left wings are with opponents on the other end of the camera a lot of us are partisan and it is easy to sum up the counterpart when i came to know van jones as a person and i remember the first night before i took the stage of the cnn election panel i had gotten the criticism from some type because you get trolls one of them said take off my cross i wasn't deserving to wear that and van jones didn't know about the comment i did not even know him as i rounded the corner before my first panel i heard a voice come out from the crowd that said i love your cross. that was the first word he said to me. and through those many nights that we spent together as a person and as a friend and as a mentor no matter the bernie or hillary or trump voter. >> others have been kind and mentor due also the late alan combs w

"the van jones show." that's going to do it for me now.p next "smerconish" and i'll be back at 8:00 p.m. eastern. thank you for being with us. see you soon. nning. but some people still like cable. just like some people like pre-shaken sodas. having their seat kicked on an airplane. being rammed by a shopping cart. sitting in gum. and walking into a glass door. but for everyone else, there's directv. for #1 rated customer satisfaction over cable, switch to directv and get a $200 reward card. call 1.800.directv but some of us make somethinge make sommuch more. dinner. mom would be proud. with blue apron, any night is a chance to see what cooking can do. like you do sometimes, grandpa? and puffed... well, when you have copd, it can be hard to breathe. it can be hard to get air out, which can make it hard to get air in. so i talked to my doctor. she said... symbicort could help you breathe better, starting within 5 minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. symbicort helps provide significant improvement of your

of the twice a month van jones show.s you could have asked for for your show? >> i personally asked donald trump to write that tweet. i wrote it for him. [ laughter ] >> listen, it's sad because we actually literally were discussing the black unemployment rate and continuing a lot of trends have been going on anyway, black unemployment is good. should we get credit for it? jay-z said something you don't hear from a lot of billionaires, it's not about money but respect. we had a powerful moment. trump missed the whole point and actually walked right back into the trap. now it's trending globally, you know, jay-z's response of look, it's great p.r. for the show but bad for the country when you have a president who wants to lecture an african american rapper about african american issues with bad facts and no information about the show. >> let's put on the screen the chart that shows what you are describing, the gradually declining unemployment rate involving white and blacks. we can show from 2011 to 2017. let me see if we

[ applause ] >> i'm van jones. this is "the van jones show" season 1, episode 1. thank you for being here from the beginning, i appreciate you very much. appreciate you very much. also, here, we have a local rapper, you may have heard of, the legendary, shawn jay-z carter is in the building. my first guest. later, we are going to move from jay-z's american success story to the scene of an american tragedy, charlottesville, north carolina where nazis marched and murdered. you are going to see that. first, let's just talk. where are we today, as a nation, as we start this show? trump, year one is done. this is year two. i call it a tale of two presidencies. all right? y'all may not like this. here is the messy truth about it. things are actually better than trump supporters had hoped and they are worse than many trump opponents feared. you have to admit, you have to look at it honestly. the economy is doing pretty well, so far, under trump. many people that predicted a stock market meltdown, but the reverse actually happened. he continues obama's bull market and acc

show, "van jones." congratulations on the show, congratulations on the headlines, and now the highly anticipated what's next on your show. do you feel like, as a result of the president's tweet, he misses the point of what was central to the conversation? >> yeah. i thought it was -- obviously it's good to get attention for the show, but really, he totally missed the point. i mean, jay-z last night was stunning. he was confessional -- usually hip-hop you think bragadocious and conservatory. he was opposite of that. he talked of his struggles with his marriage, he talked about his children. he really set the kind of example i wish the president would set. the president is now the guy who is bragadocious, never accuses of anything. and part of what i think set donald trump off. he talked about the racism in the country. and he talked about how, in a very interesting way, he talked about the fact that we keep pushing it under the rug when somebody says something racist, we just smack him down and push it d

he's going to pick a van jones.to go to where he thinks he can score some political points, turn around to his base and see, i'm with you, let's fire those other people. let's insult their countries, let's insult their hopes and dreams. let's disregard them and treat them with disgust. he seems to think that's going to work for him. it's really unfortunate. he's not the first politician to play that kind of racialized politics. unfortunately he may not be the last. will it work for him? in the long run, who knows. it's an important question for everybody else. when you see the president doing things like that, are you also willing to say, hey, my 401(k) is doing pretty well, the hell with it, or are you willing to take a higher road, which is hopefully what all of us will do. >> yes, we will do. thank you so much. >>> jay z was nominated for eight grammys last night. came home empty-handed after losing out to bruno mars and kendrick lamar in several categories. the rapper was honored with the grammy industry icon aw

. >> the van jones show. a creative name. >> the van jones show.sean carter. >> local rapper. 7:00 p.m. the debut of the show. >> is he married to someone? >> up and coming artist. beyonce. okay. >> let's get to business. i had franklin gram on the show. and asked about evangelical support. >> these alleged affairs. and alleged with trump. didn't happen while he was in office. this happened eleven, 12, 13 years ago. and so i think there's a big difference. and not that we give anybody a pass. but we have to look at the time line. >> so. >> really? >> details are it happened. four months after melania gave birth. and the pay out to keep quiet. it came in 2016. before the election. denying the affairs, but why aren't evangelicals out raged? i don't understand it. >> there's never been a more stark or easy example of how evangelicals have made the deal with the devil based on one single issue. it's the same issue that has motivated them as a political base since they joined the con seshtive coalition. it's abortion, it's abortion. over turning row vs.

the first guest on the new van jones show. .e was critical of president trump's opinion of african countries. he talked about why black americans usually vote for democrats and discussed ub employment in the black community. the president responded. first here's jay-z. >> it's not about money at the end of the day. money is not e equating to happiness. that's missing the whole point. you treat people like human beings. and then that's the main point. you can't treat someone -- it goes back to the whole thing. treat me bad and pay me well. it's not going to lead to happiness. it's going to lead to, again, the same thing. everyone is going to be sick. >> the

>> i always saw the van jones as radical left-wing but a lot of us are partisan it is either the right or the left is easy to sum up the counterpart but when i knew him as a person i was taken aback i remember my first night during the primaries i had gotten criticism as a pundit you get a lot of trolls and angry viewers one said take off my cross because i wasn't deserving to wear that to support president trump. i did not even know van jones at that time before i came across my panel i heard of voice that said kayleigh mcenany i love your cross that is the first words he said to me. i came to know him in those nights we spent together as a person and a friend and a mentor to shatter the idea whether the hillary or trump voter. >> he is not the only liberal commentator who has been kind and to mentor you you also wrote about the late alan combs. >> i always joke the liberals on the left helped me even though right wing strong conservative but just an intern on the set of hannity bet alan would keep up with me at my time on cnn but he would put on the tv watch me and always send me mes

trump's claims about the black unemployment rate and his tweets about jay z's interview on cnn and van jonesow. we'll talk to the man, van, coming up. friends, colleagues, gathered here are the world's finest insurance experts. rodney -- mastermind of discounts like safe driver, paperless. the list goes on. how about a discount for long lists? gold. mara, you save our customers hundreds for switching almost effortlessly. it's a gift. and jamie. -present. -together we are unstoppable. so, what are we gonna do? ♪ insurance. that's kind of what we do here. you know what's not awesome? gig-speed internet. when only certain people can get it. let's fix that. let's give this guy gig- really? and these kids, and these guys, him, ah. oh hello. that lady, these houses! yes, yes and yes. and don't forget about them. uh huh, sure. still yes! xfinity delivers gig speed to more homes than anyone. now you can get it, too. welcome to the party. >>> we're back, you're watching cnn, i'm brooke baldwin. as the president preepts prepares for his first state of the union address he's going into a war of words w

margaret hoover and van jones. >> i like that. that feels good. >> it's late night cnn. >> usually we do the promo at the end but the new show. >> called van jones show. creative name. >> interviewing sean carter. >> jay-z. >> a big future. >> saturday 17 p.m., the debut of the show. >> is he married no up and come artist. beyonce she won't be on the shea. >> let's get to business. because last night i had franklin graham and i asked him about evangelical support of the president amid reports of an affair with stormy daniels. here is what he said. >> the alleged affairs alleged with trump didn't happen while in office. this happened 11, 12, 13, 14 years ago. and so i think that there is a big difference. and not that we give anybody a pass. but we have to look at the time line. >> hmm. so. >> really? >> details are that it happened four months after melania gave birth and the payout to keep quiet -- it was salacious and unbelievable. the payout came in 2016 >> right before the election. >> right before the election. >> denying the

van jones. did the democrats get rolled? wind up shutting down the government, playing they role in that but getting nothing back in the new deal. >> they got very little back. in the sense of normal politics. their hearts are probably bigger than their heads. let me tell you something that i think is important to remember, the base and those young dreamers need to see somebody fighting for them. i remember when democrats used to treat the base especially black and brown young people like tissue. i remember the 1990s the crime bill. welfare repeal. when the base was treated like garbage. and this time it turns out that unfortunately dreamers are not as popular as a functioning u.s. government. you're not going to win that fight. that's about the only thing that dreamers are less popular than. and democrats stood up for them and republicans are not. >> how? what'd they get? >> they showed some fight. and when you're in the minority, and all you can do is either stand or fold. they stood. listen, i agree. their hearts were big

van jones is with us along with former trump campaign strategist david urban.st, one little piece of news keeping. mr. urban, would you like to confirm or deny reports that you may b hded to the white house? >> chris, i don't -- i'm not commenting on any of that stuff, so -- >> all right. >> nice knowing you buddy. >> i wanted to give you a chance. that's the question. that's your answer. now let's get after the debate. van jones. >> yeah. >> did the democrats get rolled and wind up shutting down the government, playing their role in that, but getting nothing back in this new deal? >> they got very little back in the sense of normal politics. their hearts were probably bigger than their heads from the point of view of normal politics. but let me tell you something i think is important to remember. the base and those young d.r.e.a.m.ers need to see somebody fighting for them. and i remember when democrats used to treat the base, especially black and brown young people, like tissue. i remember the 1990s, a crime bill. i remember welfare appeal. i remember when th

. >>> jay-z sat down with the premiere of the van jones show and he talked with race in maine to theriage. >> cnn's senior media correspondent and host of "reliable sources" joins me now. >> jay-z almost never gives interviews and rarely has to sit down and talk about politics or his personal life but he did with van jones here at cnn yesterday and his comments about president trump's racist remarks about african countries really stood out. here is what jay-z said about the recent remarks in the oval office. >> we have a president that comes and says every african country is a shit-hole country. how does that land with you as a dad? >> it's disappointing and it's hurtful. really is hurtful more so. everyone feels anger but after the anger is hurtful because you're looking down on a whole population of people and you're so misinformed because these places have beautiful people and have beautiful everything. and it's just -- like, this is the leader of the free world speaking like this. but on the other side, this has been going on. this is how people talk. this is how they talk behind

cnn political commentators sarah zetner and van jones. is all true and he was ultimately fired in a different situation some years later, why didn't she do more and what does she need to say about it now? >> if you ever needed proof that this is a bipartisan issue that it's not about republicans, democrats, it's not about hollywood industry, it's not about -- this is a bipartisan, ubiquitous problem, here you have it. it's interesting they pointed to their policies. that's part of the problem. turns out these policies have been inadequate for a very long time. you can't hide behind policies that worked for you ten years ago. that's exactly the whole point that the policies we've had not just in politics but throughout socie society. she's going to have to come out and address it. >> it's a blow to a lot of people who thought hillary clinton was a stalwart to feminism and women's empowerment. she had a female campaign manager approached with this campaign worker, who was a faith adviser. >> faith adviser, read scripture every morning. >> w

he spoke with van jones on the first episode of cnn's new "the van jones show" and described how criticalight has become for women. >> in this me too moment, in this time's up moment, does that give you hope for your daughters? how do you make sense of this new rise in women's voices? >> it has to happen. this movement and everything that's going on and what we're finding out, it's like everything else. it's like racism, like everything -- it existed the whole time. and we just -- it's almost like we normalized it. the normalization of the things we have to do to survive. for women to go to work knowing this sort of abuse was happening every day. it's happening every day because you can look and logically you'll say why would you stay there? what's the alternative? what's the alternative? you have to survive in america. and in order to survive you have to normalize it. so this has been going on. and for it to get uncovered and the world to correct itself, this is what has to happen. >> jay-z, me too is personal for him, as you know, he and beyonce have three children, a boy and two little

let's have round 2 of the great debate with van jones and mike david urban.acts aren't in dispute, van. the rate is still too high, you had jay-z speaking about it. how do you see this conflict between jay-z and the president on this issue? >> i got to say, we did the debut of my show on saturday, and oprah and trump both texted -- tweeted about it. it's good for my ratings but it's actually bad for the country because the president -- love oprah -- but the president missed the point. what jay-z was saying was it's good we're having these numbers continuing to improve -- obviously it started under obama. but it still doesn't get t president off the hook from some of his rhetoric and the way he says demeaning things about people. and we were talking about parents how hard it is to raise black kids when the president is saying things like s-hole country, et cetera. so the good things don't make up for the bad. the president entirely missed the point. let me say one more quick thing. i would love to hear what david says about this. just one more quick thing here

it's going to lead to the same thing. >> that was the jay z on the van jones show yesterday.asked the famous rapper and producer about the president's rhetoric and how divisive he may be. fact that black unemployment was so low and president trump, i don't know if he watched the whole show but he was tweeting saying somebody inform jay z because black unemployment has been at the lowest report ever, but nia, let me start with you, with our panel. black unemployment is at historic lows. president trump has a point although jay z already responded. >> yeah, it's a quality of life issue too. unemployment rate as we know is one thing, but how people are really living their lives and there was a study that indicated that even for african americans to catch up with just wealth would take them almost 200 years to do that, so it's deeper than just the unemployment rate and the unemployment rate is always double that of main stream america, the suffering that's happening among african american families when it comes to their quality of life so just saying that the unemployment rate is

back with me now, van jones, tara set mire and isha connors.t obama spoke to david letterman for the comedian's new show on netflix and was asked about the russia exploited -- how russia exploited the tribalism plaguing modern america. take a listen to this. >> what the russians exploited but it was already here is, we are operating in completely different information universes. if you watch fox news, you are living on a different planet than you are if you -- well, listen to npr. >> if you are getting all your information off algorithms being sent to a phone and it's reinforcing whatever biases you have, that's what's happening with more and more facebook pages where people are getting their news from. at a certain point, you just live in a bubble, and that's part of why our politics is so polarized right now. >> what do you make of president obama's comments, and do you think that we're seeing american tribalism play out in reaction to president trump's hit hit hole comment? >> -- shithole comment? do you think people who are watching only th

we have former obama special adviser van jones with us along with former trump campaign strategist david urban. gentlemen, thank you for joining us. >> thanks for having me, chris. >> so, van, the question is as direct as it is loaded. do you believe that this was the straw that broke the camel's back and that you can now say that the president is a racist? >> you know, unfortunately i think you can. i think you have to. i had actually hoped that trump was a racial opportunist, which is not the same as a racist. somebody who knows better but he's using racial antagonisms. he's taking the opportunity to get the white people mad at the black people to help himself but deep in his heart he knew better. the problem you have with this he's not in front of a rally. he's not getting a ad in the "new york times." he's in a private meeting, and what he said is a textbook definition of racism. let me tell you why i say that. if he had said, "i don't want anybody coming here who's not an engineer or a doctor. i don't care if they come from nigeria or norway, but send me the engineers. that's elitis

let's have round 2 of the great debate with van jones and mike urban.s still too high, you had jay-z speaking about it. how do you see the conflict between jay-z and the president on this issue? >> we have to say we did the debut of my show on saturday, and both oprah and trump tweeted about it. it's good for my ratings but it's actually bad tore the country becauut the president md the point. what jay-z was saying was it's good we're having these numbers continuing to improve -- obviously it started under obama -- but it still doesn't get the president off the hook for some of his rhetoric and the way he says demeaning things about people, and it's hard to raise kids when the parents are saying things like s-hole, et cetera. let me say one more quick thing. i would love to hear what david says about this. just one more quick thing here. under obama, you had the unemployment rate for black people falling 1.8%, 1.6% a year. under trump it fell 1%. so yes, the trend is continuing down, but it's actually slowing under trump. so if you want to talk about nu

the van jones show premieres tomorrow here on cnn. around in a van with trump voters and clinton voters in charlottesville, virginia. ♪ >> i don't see any horns. i don't see any pitch fork. >> they're in the trunk. >> listen, they don't have good sense at cnn. they let anybody drive. >> here we are at lee park. when you see that statue shrouded there, how do you feel about that? >> that statue was put up as a way of telling black and brown people, you go this far and no further. >> pastor, what do you base that statement on that they were put there for that purpose, because -- >> the history. >> well, that's contrary to anything that i know. >> how would you feel if you were a black man or a black woman having your -- you talk about generations of enslavement, of brutal zalgs. how would you feel seeing the statue? >> i don't think that as a white person, i will ever completely understand how a black person feels. >> and he also has an exclusive interview with jay-z. quite a first show. tune in for the van jones show tomorrow 7:00378 e

my friend van jones took a lot of heat calling the presidential election a white lash. but donald trump has proved over and over again his words and actions are a step backwards from the ideals of america. a step backwards from the real word of martin luther king. the fact is captalism was built on the exploitation and suffering of blag slaves and continues to thrive. contrast that with president trump asking why we can't have more immigrants from countries like norway, forgetting it was people who from those shithole countries built the white house. good evening to both you. you tried to get the president on the record today during that martin luther king ceremony. let's take it look at it. >> mr. president, will you give a statement for the comments yesterday? mr. president, are you a racist? mr. president, will you respond to these serious questions about your statement, sir? mr. president, are you a racist? >> wow. the president ignored your question. so april, talk to me about this ceremony. it was a day after he said all of these things. and those were pretty pres

this is "the van jones show" season 1, episode 1.nk you for being here from the beginning, i appreciate you very much. appreciate you very much. also, here, we have a local rapper, you may have heard of, the legendary, shawn jay-z carter is in the building. my first guest. late

everyone is going to be sick. >> van jones was on "reliable sources" earlier today and talked about the interview and the president's tweet. >> it's sad because we actually literally were discussing the black unemployment rate and i gave -- continuing a lot of trends have been going on anyway, black unemployment is pretty good. should he get credit for it. jay-z said something you don't hear from billionaires. it's not about the money. so that was trending globally jay-z's response. ifts great pr for the show but bad for the country when you have a president thats to lecture an african pundit on african-american issues with bad facts. >> let's put on the screen the chart. grully declining unemployment rate. this includes whites and blacks. let me put up another chart first just with the african-american unemployment rate from 2011 to 2017. let me see if we can put that other chart on screen. it's a gradual steady decline. here it is at a record low but been declining for six or seven years. and i think that raises this question of how much credit to give president trump given that it wa

van jones, one the first things we heard in the analysis on cnn last night from van jones was that in his words this was selling sweet tasting candy with poison in it. was it that or was it a unity speech? >> i don't think i can go as far as van, but i don't think it was a unity speech for a couple reasons. one is every president during the state of the union as we've all watched over the years talks about unity at the beginning, but it really, you know, gets into the crutch of the speech to find out if there are any bridges that can be built between the two political parties. he did talk about prison reform, prescription drugs, sure he can get that. the release of the memo or the expected release of this memo from devin nunes is only going to make things worse. immigration is really very far away from being resolved. so i don't think that the president was unifying necessarily last night and i do think it's interesting and i'll leave it on this is that he noted that nobody gets everything that they want. specifically to democrats on the immigration proposal. does that mean that the p

the first guest on the new van jones show. . he was critical of president trump's opinion of african countries. he talked about why black americans usually vote for democrats and discussed ub employment in the black community. the president responded. first here's jay-z. >> it's not about money at the end of the day. money is not e equating to happiness. that's missing the whole point. you treat people like human beings. and then that's the main point. you can't treat someone -- it goes back to the whole thing. treat me bad and pay me well. it's not going to lead to happiness. it's going to lead to, again, the same thing. everyone is going to be sick. >> the president who apparently saw jay-z on cnn tweeted, somebody please inform jay-z that because of my policies, black unemployment has just been reported to be at the lowest rate ever record. let me bring in boris sanchez. this is surreal. the president and hip hop star butting heads over policy. >> another surreal moment to add to a long list. the president taking aim at a riv

. >>> and don't miss the brand-new cnn series "the van jones show." watch the "the van jones show" starting tonight at 7:00 eastern and, of course, it's here on cnn. >>> i know you babysitting at home with somebody who is not feeling well today because cdc says the flu virus is so expansive and it is in every state and it is going to be around for at least quote, many more weeks. we'll talk to our chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta in a moment. with hyaluronic acid it plumps skin cells with intense hydration and locks it in. for supple, hydrated skin. hydro boost. from neutrogena >>> those mortgage rates dropped slightly this week. here's your look. megan's a lawyer. when it comes to presenting evidence, nobody does it better. she's also this close to finding bigfoot. but when it comes to mortgages, she's less confident. fortunately for megan, there's rocket mortgage by quicken loans. it's simple, so she can understand the details and get approved in as few as eight minutes. apply simply. understand fully. mortgage confidently. rocket mortga

from "the van jones show," political commentator van jones. comedian josh gondelman.in that case, let's get to the news. press secretary sarah huckabee sanders said yesterday that the white house wants to see the russia investigation come to a complete and full conclusion. "uh, no, you don't," replied robert mueller. [ light laughter ]

that was the premise of the question and the answer to van jones.was saying that number doesn't tell the whole story. >> it doesn't. that number doesn't tell the whole story. and, you know, jay-z talked about it, it is like spraying perfume on a trash can. and some of his comments. i find it interesting that the president touts these numbers, and i have been at the white house for 21 years now, that's one of the stories i've been first and foremost just pushing and you know that. and the issue is the black unemployment rate is much higher. a lot of times two times that of white america. the december unemployment rate for black america, i believe, 6.8%, for white america it is 3.7, for hispanics, 4.9, for asians, 2.5. so and then during the obama years, when he received -- when president obama received the recession and tried to work on it, the numbers went as high as 16%. started coming down then. so, you know, if you want to say that you brought it down, where is your -- i want to know where the targeting approach was, the targeted approach was to

joining me, van jones, bakari sellers, ana navarro. ana, there is any other way to interpret his comment other than being just racist? >> of course there's no other way to interpret it. this is not an isolated comment. the first thing he did when he started running was calm mexicans rapists. he has gone on to equate white supremacists in charlottesville to the people protesting against them. he has called black athletes sons of bitches. he has feuded with the congresswoman who represents little haiti, frederica wilson. last year at this time he was feuding with civil rights icon john lewis. this is not a coincidence, this is a pattern of behavior. we have a racist, a shameless racist who has hijacked the republican party, who has hijacked the oval office. and this country needs to stand up against this and tell him that we will not let him divide us by color, by race, by ethnicity, by economy. we will not by quiet, we will not allow this. donald trump, this is not america, this is not america and we will fight against your division, yo

policies for helping to lower black unemployment rates and seeming to anticipate this response, van jonesed another portion of his interview where they discussed if trump lowering unemployment excuses his comments. >> that's not missing the whole point. you treat people like human beings. >> while the black unemployment rate did fall to a record low of 6.8% last year, it was a continuation of a trend that started under the obama administration. trump did not specify which of his policies helped lower the rate. >>> here we are on a monday and soggy start to the week for the pacific northwest. here's nbc meteorologist bill karins with more. >> big differences from the pacific northwest and southern california. southern california, the santa ana winds and fire danger and the pacific northwest you can see the huge storm off the coastline of british columbia and just a plow, atmospheric river if you want of the clouds and moisture. most towards the olympics in northern portions of washington state and cascades. we could get an additional one to three inches maybe four inches at most and a lot

. >> van jones should have delivered the speech. >> i would have loved to see van jones. >> the most remarkable thing about this speech, actually, we can debate -- >> which one? >> the kennedy speech is that that was your crystal clear proof that maybe they'll cut a deal on dreamers, i doubt it, maybe they'll do a couple of things bipartisan. this is going to be a very partisan year, in part because the democrats think that's where the president is, and that's where they want to be. this is top to bottom -- >> but don't you agree? >> let him finish. >> wait one second. this is top to bottom. he never mentions the president. in this speech, if you have a democratic president the republican always says if there's an area we can work with the president -- the pabulum is there. it's not in here. this is a call to arms. it is a top to bottom indictment of president trump. there was no effort here to be conciliatory. this tells you we're in an election year that is going to be -- >> it is going to be a tough year. there's no doubt. but the president would do the greatest service to himself

. >> it's interesting, in the last hour we talked to van jones about this, what are oprah's economicition, and van jones' point was all that can come but that her message could be kind of a decency and -- >> kindness. >> -- you know, kindness as and posed to what critics of trump would interpret as his message. >> yeah. anderson, typically, a presidential election, voters look for the weakness in the incumbent and vote for somebody who has compensating strengths. i think to go to frank's point, oprah comes along as the nontrump and he's a very different kind of person and i do think that she could rally and we'll have to wait and see. a lot of people are not quite sure she should be president who actually like her very much as a -- in the position she's been in. but what is absolutely clear is that women could well be the driving force of the next presidential election. you know, emily's list in the last presidential cycle had a thousand women who called and said i'd like to get involved in politics, help me think about running. this cycle, so far they've had 21,000 women who have sa

i remember our colleague van jones saying he became presidential. that motel, he's 365 days when he wasn't presidential. so i think you'll hear some say he was president residential and the rest of us will say he pro announced his syllables right. >> he's been rehearsing. >> i take umbrage with the fact that you call me a geek. i think i'm a goof. i might be surrounded by geeks. >> i'm a nerd. >> the president is sboouk a chamber where half the chamber is against him. as much as he'll be presidential, we don't expect him to go off the rails. and i think we have to watch this. if the democrats are consistently booing him, that's where you could see him lose his train of thought and ref back to the train of thought. >> i don't see him doing the that. we were talking about when bill clinton was in a difficult period of time when bill clinton was in the whitewater investigation. we thought how co-go through with it? congress is there. i've been part of it. we are props. we is it down and we stand up and cheer. he will talk about the economy and jobs. >>

. >> cnn's own van jones and john berman. >> this time, it's personal.ethany watson. >> it wasn't me. it wasn't me. >> radio commentator s.e. cupp, youtube sensation, jessie paege, and comedienne kiran deol. it's "all the best, all the worst 2017." welcome, i'm tom foreman. in so many ways the past 12 months have played out like a bad movie. we had week after week of outlandish characters, unexpected developments, outrageous behavior in big news and in entertainment and pop culture, and most of all in politics, where one name over shadowed everything else and it came from d.c. ♪ >> president trump. >> trump. >> trump. >> trump. >> donald trump, trump. >> president trump. >> donald trump. >> the biggest overarching story of the year is certainly the trump presidency. >> it was bananas how completely divided this country became. b-a-n-a-n-a-s. >> ladies and gentlemen, the president-elect of the united states, donald j. trump. >> for some, the new york billionaire was the best thing to come to washington in decades, with his promise of shaking things up, sh

. >> van jones? come as surprise to people? also just inaccurate.ust numbers sometimes matter. 33% of americans have college degrees, god bless everybody, lot of hard work, now got student debt. 43% of african immigrants have college degrees. 11% of white people in america have a graduate degree. 25%á , nigerian americans have a graduate degree. so what is he talking about? part of the thing is when you'rb relying on horrible stereotypes. by the way, mhia trump, first lady, i admire greatly, from of heurope. but she's welcome and nigerians are not. something wrong with the wayocw >> didn't say that all haitians have aids. othat. >> when it's meeting of staff but bipartisan lawmakers meeting today can't deny it. such a big jump from all haitians have aids to it's a shithole? >> point is not for you or me or anyone else to put words in president's mouth. >> we don't need to, he's putting racist words in his oath mouth. >> he's not making racist comments. point of the meeting is president trump unlike democrats or republicans in the past is getting so

. >> lets get to the bottom line with it with our senior political commentator van jones.t did you think when you heard this? >> well, i thought it is obviously racist. it was not accurate. i think the news media has not listened. it turns out about 30% of americans have college degrees and 43% of i mmigrants of afric have college degrees. 11% of americans have an advance degrees beyond college. so it is not just that it is racist. it is ignorant. part of the problem that we have is that he relies on these stereotypes and then we argue about these stereotypes. african immigrants are coming here and, education entertainment are out performing everybody including a lot of asians. we don't talk about that. if barack obama had any point says i don't want any immigrants from europe, i want i mmigrants from africa. the right wing would have gone insane. he never did that. this president does not know how to make america great again. the people that make america great again is immigrants from haiti and africa coming here and doing working their butts off. >> he never said anythin

the van jones show premiers tomorrow. voters and trump voters in charlottesville, virginia. >> listen, they don't have good sense at cnn. they let anybody drive. >> here we are at lee park. when you see the statue. how do you feel about that? >> that was put up as a way of telling black and brown people you go this far and no further. >> what do you base that statement on? >> the history. >> that's contrary to anything i know. >> how would you feel if you were a black man or black woman. you talk about generations of enslavement. how do you feel seeing the statue? >> i don't think as a white person i will ever completely understand how a black person feels. >> and he also has an exclusive interview with jay z. quite a show. that's it for us. time to hand it over to chris cuomo. for cuomo "prime time." >>

van jones said jay z is a good role model for donald trump because he grew in public.as confessional and vulnerable about his marriage. i don't think he had a choice in that. >> kennedy: no. beyonce had to write about these things and bring them to the foreign there was a great amount of internet speculation as well as in music journalism. what i find disingenuous is there's lots of issues and a lot of things that jay z can take to task in one of them is the federal minimum wage that a lot of people on the left are pushing for. who does that hurt the most? unemployed black teenagers. they have the hardest time entering the workforce. that's a real issue. saying money doesn't buy happiness. it doesn't when you are rich. a statement like that says you can be really rich and super miserable but for those with zero mobility and no choices and no chance to move up, a little bit of money and a nice job sure would be refreshing considering how the cards have been stacked against many people that jay z is supposedly defending. >> greg: part of the criticism to donald trump was

. >> i heard van jones say that we live in a world that oprah hoped to create but that oprah doesn't rule, and i think he is hoping very much she does run. do you think a trump white house, and we saw you there today in the briefing room, will take this talk of an oprah effort as a serious matter? >> i think they will take it seriously. i think we all learned the lesson in 2016 and i think the trump white house would know it better than anyone that you have to take these sorts of things seriously. not too many people took donald trump seriously and he's down the other end of pennsylvania avenue right now in the white house. and i candidate like her in a lot of ways is much more frightening than a generic democrat or a bernie sanders or elizabeth warren, who is a known quantity, who is already widely disliked by a lot of republicans, sort of a traditional republican versus democrat lineup, in a lot of ways works to trump's advantage, someone who would change the formula like oprah, that's what makes her such a scary candidate for republicans and such an attractive candidate for democr