The morning after the Charleston church shooting, Glenn went on air and said that he believed that something good would come out of the horrific tragedy. Many in the media have focused on racism and gun control in the wake of the shooting to advance a progressive agenda, but there’s been another voice echoing Glenn’s positive sentiment: Van Jones. Could this end up being the strangest of strange bedfellows, or does Van have a hidden agenda?
GLENN: So VGLENN: So Van Jones, who I'm definitely not a fan of, has said something quite interesting about Charleston. Listen to this.
VAN: Something is happening here in Charleston. I'm proud that we're showing it. I'm also proud of you for calling it what it is when you say that it's racist terrorism. We can't defeat demons that we can't face.
You know, James Baldwin said, not everything that can be faced can be overcome, but nothing can be overcome until it is at least faced.
Here they're facing the demons, and they're coming together because they're facing the demons. I think there's a balm in Charleston for America, and I don't have words for it. I'm not usually at a loss for words. I do not have words for what I say.
PAT: That's pretty interesting that because -- you've been saying that from the very beginning. From day one, which was, you know, Thursday. Thursday morning you said something was happening and something could would come out of this really awful tragedy. Right?
GLENN: Yeah. While everyone was still reeling from it, I had the feeling that you were going to see an Amish moment coming from this community.
PAT: And we have.
GLENN: Something great -- and we have. Last night, yesterday, on the bridge was absolutely amazing.
PAT: Yeah, 15,000 people.
GLENN: Show up. And it's a unity line across the bridge, led by the victims' families. I mean, there is something special about this church. There is something special about this community.
PAT: But this is a revolutionary communist who is saying this at an interesting time. MSNBC is trying to stoke the flames of racial division. Then you have Van Jones saying exactly what you said.
GLENN: Yeah.
PAT: Which is exactly what you said would happen when Van Jones was doing his revolutionary -- communist revolutionary propaganda before he said, drop the radical pose.
GLENN: I said about Van Jones. This was years ago. I said about Van Jones. Be careful. This guy is extraordinarily dangerous and he is smart.
PAT: Uh-huh.
GLENN: And he is going to -- he is going to go all lovey-dovey on you. And he is going to image himself as a Martin Luther King or whatever.
PAT: Right. Right. He has a hard time sticking to it, though. Because he was doing the lovey-dovey stuff for you for a while, remember, calling you his brother, saying he loved you, all that kind of stuff. Then he kind of drifted back to his radical nonsense and rhetoric. And now he seems to be once again parodying what you've been saying about the Charleston situation.
GLENN: He's a dangerous guy. Very, very dangerous guy.
PAT: But like you said, smart. He's really smart.
GLENN: No, no. He took the summer after he left the White House, and he spent three months studying old tapes of Ronald Reagan, trying to learn how to speak like Ronald Reagan. Trying to learn the ins and outs of Ronald Reagan. Trying to be able to parrot. The guy is an actor. He can parrot just about anybody. So he's just a really dangerous guy.
Now, I hope that maybe he's dropped the --
PAT: Maybe.
GLENN: -- maybe he's dropped the radical ends as well as the radical means. I don't know. I don't know Van Jones. I don't want to know Van Jones. I don't trust him. Van Jones, who I'm definitely not a fan of, has said something quite interesting about Charleston. Listen to this.
VAN: Something is happening here in Charleston. I'm proud that we're showing it. I'm also proud of you for calling it what it is when you say that it's racist terrorism. We can't defeat demons that we can't face.
You know, James Baldwin said, not everything that can be faced can be overcome, but nothing can be overcome until it is at least faced.
Here they're facing the demons, and they're coming together because they're facing the demons. I think there's a balm in Charleston for America, and I don't have words for it. I'm not usually at a loss for words. I do not have words for what I say.
PAT: That's pretty interesting that because -- you've been saying that from the very beginning. From day one, which was, you know, Thursday. Thursday morning you said something was happening and something could would come out of this really awful tragedy. Right?
GLENN: Yeah. While everyone was still reeling from it, I had the feeling that you were going to see an Amish moment coming from this community.
PAT: And we have.
GLENN: Something great -- and we have. Last night, yesterday, on the bridge was absolutely amazing.
PAT: Yeah, 15,000 people.
GLENN: Show up. And it's a unity line across the bridge, led by the victims' families. I mean, there is something special about this church. There is something special about this community.
PAT: But this is a revolutionary communist who is saying this at an interesting time. MSNBC is trying to stoke the flames of racial division. Then you have Van Jones saying exactly what you said.
GLENN: Yeah.
PAT: Which is exactly what you said would happen when Van Jones was doing his revolutionary -- communist revolutionary propaganda before he said, drop the radical pose.
GLENN: I said about Van Jones. This was years ago. I said about Van Jones. Be careful. This guy is extraordinarily dangerous and he is smart.
PAT: Uh-huh.
GLENN: And he is going to -- he is going to go all lovey-dovey on you. And he is going to image himself as a Martin Luther King or whatever.
PAT: Right. Right. He has a hard time sticking to it, though. Because he was doing the lovey-dovey stuff for you for a while, remember, calling you his brother, saying he loved you, all that kind of stuff. Then he kind of drifted back to his radical nonsense and rhetoric. And now he seems to be once again parodying what you've been saying about the Charleston situation.
GLENN: He's a dangerous guy. Very, very dangerous guy.
PAT: But like you said, smart. He's really smart.
GLENN: No, no. He took the summer after he left the White House, and he spent three months studying old tapes of Ronald Reagan, trying to learn how to speak like Ronald Reagan. Trying to learn the ins and outs of Ronald Reagan. Trying to be able to parrot. The guy is an actor. He can parrot just about anybody. So he's just a really dangerous guy.
Now, I hope that maybe he's dropped the --
PAT: Maybe.
GLENN: -- maybe he's dropped the radical ends as well as the radical means. I don't know. I don't know Van Jones. I don't want to know Van Jones. I don't trust him.