‘They’re not taking the same exam:’ Van Jones points out the double standard between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris

Van Jones recently hit the nail on the head by succinctly describing the double standardbetween Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.

With Election Day less than two weeks away, polls are still predicting an incredibly tight race between Trump and Harris. However, it shouldn’t be tight at all. Harris has a history as a capable and experienced leader with an impressive legal and political career. As President, she has promised to protect women’s rights, give tax breaks to the middle class and small businesses, expand the child tax credit, make healthcare accessible, and promote gun safety regulations. Meanwhile, billionaire corrupt businessman and convicted felon Trump wants to abolish the Department of Education, defund Planned Parenthood, defund schools that teach about slavery, spark the “largest deportation” in U.S. history, and give tax cuts to billionaires. Not only that, but he is allegedly tied to Project 2025, which lays out a plan for banning abortion nationally and dismantling democracy in America. Yet, there’s a chance that Trump could take home the election.

Finally, Jones came forward to call out the blatant double standard for the presidential candidates.

Van Jones nails the double standard in the presidential election

On October 23, CNN political commentator Jones spoke out about the unfair dynamics in the presidential election. The discussion arose after Harris partook in a Pennsylvania town hall with undecided voters. Strategist David Axelrod later analyzed her performance and noted she had very strong moments and was “well-prepared.” However, he did criticize her occasional “word salad,” in which she’d get off track when asked certain questions, such as about the Israel-Hamas War. Of course, all the media focused on was the one “word salad” criticism. Numerous outlets quickly reported that Harris was brutally “roasted” for her “word salad,” while right-wing pundits laughed and screamed about her supposed incompetence and how she was unqualified to be President.

However, Jones defended her, pointing out the apparent double standard in the race. He stated plainly, “Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are not taking the same exam. And I think it bothers people. They’re not taking the same exam.” The major problem is that Harris is held to an incredibly high standard while Trump is held to no standard. Jones explained, “He gets to be lawless. She has to be flawless. That’s what’s unfair.”

Jones’ statement quickly started trending on X because it so plainly and simply called out the truth. For example, he references Trump’s bizarre comments about Arnold Palmer’s penis. He acknowledged that Harris might occasionally stumble while speaking, but “she’s fighting for actual ideas that will help real people, and he’s talking about peoples’ penises.” As if that wasn’t proof enough of the double standard, at the same time the media was having a field day over Harris’ “word salad,” Trump received his umpteenth sexual assault allegation and was accused of defending Hitler and making horrific racist remarks about the late Vanessa Guillén.

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Of course, MAGA doesn’t care that their candidate is a convicted felon displaying increasingly erratic and bizarre behavior while new skeletons are discovered in his closet by the minute. They’re too busy policing Harris’ supposed teleprompter use and trying to figure out what earrings she’s wearing. It’s not just MAGA, though. Democrats and liberals also have high expectations for Harris, just as they had high standards for Biden and called him out when he displayed an inability to lead. While it’s good that the left cares about who their candidate is, it still adds to the double standard. Harris faces high standards from her supporters and impossible standards from the right, and Trump enjoys zero standards from both sides. Trump could do literally anything and still earn MAGA’s praise, while most Democrats have, sadly, had to resign themselves to not expecting anything but the worst from him.

The fact that this unfairness is encroaching on the presidential election is emblematic of a much larger problem within America of holding women and BIPOC individuals to different standards than men and Caucasians. There is no greater indication of the urgent need for change when the archaic notion of expecting perfection from women while chanting, “Boys will be boys,” is playing out in the race for the highest office in America.