CNN’s Jake Tapper and Van Jones Go Viral with Reactions to Kamala Harris Election Loss

The CNN journalists were both equally surprised Tuesday night as the election map showed Harris failing to overperform Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in a single state.

“Holy smokes,” Tapper exclaimed as he was shown the map by colleague John King. “Literally nothing? Literally not one county?” he asked.

King replied: “Literally nothing.”

X (formerly Twitter) issued a correction on the clip after it made its rounds, noting that King pressed the wrong button and was showing state totals on the map.

He corrected himself a moment later and showed counties, which reaffirmed the point that she overperformed in only very few counties in the country — but not zero.

Trump still won in states that were predicted to be Democratic strongholds, surprising many across the country as the votes continued to trickle in late Tuesday night.

Jones was among those surprised, as he had an emotional reaction to Trump’s win while he talked about the fear and hurt many Harris supporters were feeling after she lost the presidency.

In a choked up voice, Jones reflected on the “hurt” that Black women who had turned out for the vice president were experiencing.

“I’m thinking about the people who are not a part of anybody’s elite who are hurting tonight. There are African American women who know a little bit about being talked down to, and know a little bit about having their economic dreams crushed, who tried to dream a big dream over the past couple of months,” Jones said. “And tonight, they’re trading in a lot of hope for a lot of hurt. They were hoping that maybe this time — this time — one of their own could be seen as worthy.”

Jones also took the moment to spotlight other groups, such as members of the LGBTQ community and undocumented immigrants, who had been targeted by Trump and his campaign during his race to the White House,

“If you’re a parent of a trans kid, your child’s face was used as a springboard to power for somebody, that doesn’t feel good” Jones said. “There are going to be people tomorrow, we’re going to be handing clothes at the dry cleaners to people who don’t have papers. There are going to be people cleaning your teeth tomorrow who don’t have papers. And they’re going to be terrified tonight.”

He continued, “It’s easy to blow this off and say, ‘Oh the elites, they’re going to get their comeuppance.’ It’s not the elites who are going to pay the price,” he added. “It’s the people who woke up this morning with a dream and are going to bed with a nightmare.”

CNN called the 2024 presidential election in favor of the Republican nominee at 5.30am ET on Wednesday.