Van Jones walks back praise of ‘serious threat’ Trump

CNN host Van Jones said Wednesday night there is a risk “that we normalize [President] Trump emotionally,” walking back his earlier praise for Trump’s first address to Congress.

“There’s a danger that we all start to become Trump — that we normalize Trump emotionally. There’s a danger that we all become fear-based and fear-driven and that we give in 100 percent to this us-against-them hysteria,” Jones said on “The Messy Truth” alongside Comedy Central’s “Daily Show” host Trevor Noah.

Jones mentioned the blowback he received over his commentary following the president’s address to a joint session of Congress last week.

{mosads}Jones appeared to praise Trump for applauding the widow of U.S. Navy SEAL Ryan Owens, who was killed in action during a January raid in Yemen. The standing ovation Trump received lasted several minutes as the widow, Carryn Owens, was brought to tears in the Capitol.

Jones said during CNN’s post-address coverage that Trump “became president of the United States” at that moment.

“That wasn’t just a compliment — that was a warning,” Jones clarified Wednesday. “I saw Trump as a serious threat from day one. … I thought he was a serious threat then; I think he’s a serious threat now. Today.”

Jones added that Trump’s policies and temperament make the president a villain for many Americans.

“For millions of people, people I love and I work with, and I know and I care about, Trump is the scariest villain. You’ve got people living in fear.”

Jones was briefly a member of the Obama administration as a “Green Jobs Czar” in 2009 before being forced to resign after calling Republicans “assholes” — and after it was discovered he had signed a petition in 2004 supporting the “9/11 truther” movement, which he has since said was done in error.

The 48-year-old former attorney signed with CNN in 2013 to be a co-host on the network’s reboot of “Crossfire,” which was canceled the following year.