Van Jones says phone ‘blowing up’ after saying Democratic Socialists ‘going too far’

Liberal pundit Van Jones said Monday that his phone has been “blowing up” with praise from lawmakers and government officials from both parties after he took a swing at democratic socialists online.

In a post on the social platform X Saturday, Jones said that “some people in groups like the [Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)] are pushing an agenda FAR outside” left-wing positions like Medicare for All and criminal justice reform.

“Supporting Hamas is not progressive. ‘No police, no prisons, no borders’ is not progressive. Celebrating the murder of Israeli civilians is not progressive. These ideas are REGRESSIVE,” Jones added in his Saturday post.

During an appearance on CNN’s “OutFront” on Monday, Jones told host Erin Burnett that “this phone has been blowing up all day, governors from both parties, senators from both parties, Democrats in the House calling, thanking me for saying what everybody’s been saying behind the scenes, which is that this stuff is going too far.

“I am a progressive Democrat. You want to talk about prison reform? I’ve done it as well as anybody, Republican, Democrats, in the South, with [President] Trump, I’ve done prison reform. I never said, ‘Have no prisons,’” he added. “Where are you going to put the Klan? I’ve done police reform. I never said, ‘No police.’ Where are you going to put the pedophiles? Who’s going to grab the pedophiles?”

In the last year, many democratic socialist and progressive candidates have run insurgent campaigns against establishment figures in primaries, notching wins and stepping into the American political spotlight along the way.

One of those recent winners, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D), has quickly become a star among Democrats after defeating former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Big Apple mayoral race last year.

There are even conversations about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), another prominent democratic socialist, making a run for the presidency in two years.

“What Van paints here is not some magical coalition of politicians reaching across the aisle to work for working people,” the DSA said in an emailed statement to The Hill. “It is a reaction of fear to the idea that working people are willing to fight for what they deserve. They are scared, and that is to be expected. We have reached out to Van to open dialogue about our popular ideas and have not heard back,” DSA continued in the statement.

Updated 1:55 p.m. EDT.

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