Progressive commentator Van Jones admitted there's an "honest level of sadness and disappointment and disorientation among progressives and Democrats" following the determination that neither President Donald Trump's campaign nor anyone associated with it colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election.

Jones on Monday night discussed left-wing angst surrounding special counsel Robert Mueller's findings with CNN host Don Lemon, who, like Jones, has been a relentless Trump critic. But even Lemon managed to elicit a chuckle with Jones over it all.

"I've been trying to tell folks for a long time that there's no Santa Claus, there's no Harry Potter with a magic wand, and I can't tell you how many people over the years have come up to me — serious people with their hearts broken — saying, 'But when Bob Mueller comes, man, he's gonna get Trump and Trump's gonna be out of there. Van, how many days do you think Trump has left?' And I'd say, 'Maybe eight years if we don't start working on real issues and not just talking about Robert Mueller all the time,'" Jones noted to Lemon.

'Honest level of sadness and disappointment and disorientation'

Jones added that "there is an honest level of sadness and disappointment and disorientation among progressives and Democrats, and I think it goes deeper than just, you know, what's in the report."

More from Jones:



"I think some of us actually feel the way we were raised was maybe wrong. That our parents told us, 'Work hard, be honest, be good people, if you're a bad person you won't have a good life.' And I think some people look at some of the stuff President Trump does, and they say, 'Well, that guy, isn't that guy getting in trouble? If I did that at my job, I'd get in trouble.' And I think people are just really struggling to come to terms. It is good the president was not up to no good with the Russians, but it's still confusing to people. Why does he kiss up to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin so much? Why does he want to meet with him by themselves? People are confused; well if it's not that, what is it?"

He added that there are those who are "heartbroken" that Trump can still "say and do stuff we can't do, and there's no consequences."

'Why is he so mean?'



"Some of my Republican friends [think] that Democrats are just purely partisan, just hate this president, and just want to do bad stuff to him," Jones continued. "There are some people who feel that way, but there's a bigger group of people that are just confused: Why does the president do these things when it comes to Russia? Why is he so mean?"

Time to move on

He added that "we have to give people a chance to be sad about that, and to grieve about that, but then Democrats have to get back to work on real issues because this whole thing is just taking up too much time."

Republican strategist has her say



GOP strategist Alice Stewart pointed out during the segment that "Democrats are so hell-bent on being anti-Trump that they're becoming anti-American on this."

But Jones shot back, saying "if Democrats are being anti-American, they'd be out there in the streets protesting and rioting and saying, 'Hey, this is unfair.' People are accepting the process and accepting the outcome, but we're still confused."

Stewart, however, pointed to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, who said he will call on Attorney General William Barr to testify on "very concerning discrepancies and final decision making" over the handling the Mueller report.

"They're not going to take this lying down," Stewart said, adding that it was a "flashback" to the reaction following Trump's 2016 election victory.

"If Democrats are gonna continue to pursue this line of questioning the integrity of Mueller who went from hero to zero in a span of 24 hours ... instead of focusing on 2020 and what the Democratic voters want, then it's gonna be not a good outcome for them in 2020," she added.

(H/T: The American Mirror)

