America is like a car in reverse right now under President Donald Trump, Van Jones, 49, tells Hollywoodlife.com in an exclusive interview. But the CNN host of The Van Jones Show is adamant that simply praying that Bob Mueller‘s investigation into whether Donald Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia, is simply not going to put America back on track and moving forward. Neither is it “not a good strategy” to sit around “calling everyone who voted against you a bigoted idiot,” he explains to Hollywoodlife.com, while at the Environmental Media Association’s 2nd Annual Impact Summit in Los Angeles where Van Jones was in conversation with EMA’s president Debbie Levin. Jones advises anyone who is disturbed by Donald Trump’s policies needs to get to the polls and vote on November 6, 2018. “If Democrats are able to get The House of Representatives back by picking up 24 seats then you can start putting some breaks on some of this stuff in the Trump White House that is bad. […] If you come up short, then the Republican party will feel like they have been rewarded for going this way and you will have 20 years of problems.”
One of the issues that Van Jones is deeply concerned about is the deteriorating state of the environment. He serves on the Board of Directors for the EMA, which is dedicated to creating a sustainable future by promoting environmental progress. “Ecological problems are mounting,” he warns Hollywoodlife.com. However, he points out that, “The ecological solutions are not just good for the planet, they are good for people. If you want more work, more wealth and better health, a green economy with solar energy, with organic food and wind energy is the best pathway to all three. Regular people, they just want asthma inhalers out of their kids’ pockets and a raise. And we can give them that through green solutions.” Instead, one of Donald Trump’s first acts as president was to withdraw the US from the historic Paris Climate Agreement, which 195 nations signed, in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow down global warning. Now, the US has joined Syria and Nicaragua in having the distinction as being the only three countries in the world who aren’t committed to fighting global warming. Of course, Trump has tweeted his skepticism of global warming over 100 times.
Jones is equally alarmed by Trump’s pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Scott Pruitt. “He isn’t just dirtying up our political system with dirty money and dirty ethics,” he says of the man accused of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on personal security, first-class travel, and $43,000 on a special soundproof phone booth, plus paying just $50 a night for a room in a DC townhouse owned by an energy lobbyist. Pruitt is also busy dismantling regulations that keep America’s air, water and soil clean of toxins and safe for children and adults. That’s you, so watch out.
Not surprisingly, he’s also seriously alarmed by Donald Trump’s nonstop attacks on the mainstream press, including CNN, branding any news he doesn’t like as “fake,” even if it’s factual. “I think it is to the everlasting discredit of the president to continue to undermine America’s institutions, including the media, and I think it is incumbent of us in the media to fight just harder to get the facts out there,” he tells Hollywoodlife.com. “I think it’s important for us to take on board the criticisms of conservatives that feel they don’t get a fair hearing or treatment but that is not the same as saying it is all fake news. […] So I think we can do better and I think the president’s posture on this is unforgivable.” If you agree or even if you don’t, make sure you register to vote and make sure you head to the polls on November 6th!