Van Jones Praises Trump’s Attendance, Then Calls His WHCA Speech ‘Mean and Small’

When the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner finally took place in July, the spotlight wasn’t just on the awards—it was also on President Donald Trump, who chose to stay for the whole program. CNN’s Van Jones, known for his progressive commentary, seized the moment to hand the president an unexpected nod.

“You really have to give President Trump credit tonight,” Jones said, his voice carrying a faint hint of surprise. “We were expecting him to bolt, to run away after the awards. He stayed. He sat through a room full of reporters who sometimes bite him back.” A quick pause, a chuckle, and the pundit added, “Maybe someone will have the courage to speak up. Maybe they won’t. Either way, he’s putting himself in the line of fire.”

That “credit” was short‑lived. Once Trump climbed to the podium and launched into a riff that mingled jabs at the press with personal bragging, Jones’s tone shifted dramatically. “The worst thing you can say is that it just wasn’t funny,” he declared. “It wasn’t funny. It was mean and small. You can be mean, small, and funny. This was none of the latter.”

Jones didn’t stop at the insult. He pointed out the missed opportunity, noting that the president spent the entire hour talking about himself and his political enemies, while real Americans were left out of the conversation. “There are families struggling to pay for gas. There are kids whose parents are overseas, worrying about their safety,” he said. “He could have addressed those folks. Instead, he turned the night into a vanity showcase.”

The dinner itself had a dark backstory. It was postponed from its original April 25 date after a gunman fired a shot at the White House in an attempted assassination. The rescheduling meant the awards would be handed out before Trump’s speech, a tweak that Berman of CNN highlighted: “He could have walked out, theoretically, after the awards. He didn’t.”

Beyond the dinner, Jones used the platform to comment on wider political currents within his own party. He warned against “far‑left” activists who, in his view, threaten Democratic unity, and he lambasted ideas he labeled regressive—support for Hamas, abolition of prisons and borders—calling them “not progressive.” He wrapped up with a reminder of what progress really looks like: “If everyone could see a doctor when sick, get a good education for free, and breathe clean air, that’s progress. It’s not a punchline.”

In short, Van Jones gave Trump a brief, reluctant salute for staying in the room, then pulled no punches when evaluating the speech that followed—calling it small‑time, mean‑hearted, and, above all, not funny.