Van Jones’ Selective Outrage Over Sexual Harassment

President Donald Trump, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger all have something in common — they’re powerful men who have faced sexual harassment allegations during their tenure in the public eye.

So, it was particularly jarring to see former Democratic operative and current CNN pundit Van Jones rip into Trump and O’Reilly on Wednesday night after lavishing obsequious praise on Schwarzenegger for an hour on his show, “The Messy Truth.”

“Now look at Trump throwing conservative women under the bus — his own core supporters — without even giving them two seconds of a fair hearing.”

Jones’ tirade came in response to an interview the president gave with The New York Times in which he said he thought O’Reilly should have fought rather than settle sexual harassment complaints brought by Fox News co-workers.

“Look, we could just brush this off as another example of Trump spewing out garbage about stuff he doesn’t understand, but actually, Trump understands treating women like crap very well because at least 11 different women have accused President Trump of sexual harassment themselves,” he said.

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Jones also accused Trump of hypocrisy because he has hammered former President Bill Clinton’s history of sexual harassment allegations, and worse, over the years.

Jones said Trump’s words were particularly disappointing to conservative women — the kinds of women who probably work at Fox News.

“Now look at Trump throwing conservative women under the bus, his own core supporters, without even giving them two seconds of a fair hearing,” he said. “Zero loyalty to the women who got him into the White House.”

For good measure, Jones also called out Ivanka Trump — even though the president’s daughter is not part of the controversy at all. “Your dad just spat in the face of the very women who gave you and your family that platform,” he said.

Jones’ monologue would be easier to swallow if he had not just spent an hour yukking it up on stage with Schwarzenegger. The two commiserated over Trump’s various alleged offenses against after-school programs for children, immigrants, and the climate. At one point, Jones said Trump may have “signed the death warrant for planet Earth.”

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Schwarzenegger, who broke hard to Left in the face of a Democratic-controlled legislature and his state’s increasingly liberal drift, heaped criticism on Trump and other fellow Republicans for not embracing California-style solutions to America’s problems.

Jones did not once ask Schwarzenegger about his own troubled history with women. And he did not mention them at the end of the show when he went after O’Reilly and Trump.

Sexual harassment allegations almost derailed Schwarzenegger’s run for governor in 2003. The Los Angeles Times quoted six women accusing him of groping them years before. And, of course, revelations that Schwarzenegger fathered a child out-of-wedlock with his housekeeper broke up his marriage to journalist Maria Shriver in 2011.

Perhaps, Jones simply forgot about Schwarzenegger’s past, or maybe he stayed silent in deference to a guest on his show. Or maybe — just maybe — he was less eager to go after a politician who shares many of his views than he was to take down a president he despises, along with the top-rated figure on a competing cable network.