Van Jones went on ABC's "The View" on Thursday to preach his message of tolerance and engagement with Trump voters -- but many of the show's co-hosts were highly skeptical.
While talking with Jones about his outreach to voters in red states, co-host Joy Behar chided him for being "all about the kumbayah" with conservative voters who helped elect President Donald Trump.
Jones, however, insisted that his approach would bear fruit when it came to persuading voters.
"I was raised right by my mama and my daddy who said, 'Don't let bad people make you be a bad person back,'" Jones said. "I'm not going to become what I'm fighting. I think it's a big danger, and this is a character test for everybody in this country."
Co-host Sunny Hostin, however, said that Jones was letting many Trump voters off the hook for the presidency that they have enabled and supported.
"Van, aren't people complicit when they are looking the other way at the bigotry, at the misogyny, and the messages coming out of this White House?" she asked. "Perhaps they got a tax refund and that tells me because you got a tax refund, you don't care about what's happening to my community, my children, to the country. That makes you complicit, in my mind."
Jones acknowledged that Hostin had a point, even as he stuck to his guns on his approach.
"My argument is hard to make in public," he admitted. "You can make it over a long dinner."
Watch the video below.
