CNN political analyst Van Jones had a simple response when asked about his reaction to fundraising numbers showing Donald Trump's campaign raised $138.7 million last month — less than the $200 million Kamala Harris campaign raised in the first week of her candidacy.
"Kamala-mania," Jones said on CNN's "The Situation Room" on Thursday evening. He repeated the phrase: "Kamala-mania. Just energy, energy energy."
A large share of those donors are first-time gifters, he noted, who hadn't given to President Joe Biden or anyone else.
"People are excited about Kamala Harris. And it's showing up in the numbers, it's showing up in the polls. What a turnaround in the past two weeks in terms of energy, momentum and enthusiasm for Kamala Harris."
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Trump’s campaign said it had $327 million in cash on hand heading into August more than three months out from Election Day.
Jones noted that Harris still has to prove she can debate Trump and perform well in interviews, but stressed she capitalized on a moment in which the country appeared to like neither Biden nor Trump.
"There's things on the horizon, but where she is right now, there's — sometimes, the person makes the moment, and sometimes the moment makes the person. This was a moment that was crying out for some kind of breakthrough, some kind of hope."
He added there was a "death watch for democracy" after the debate.
"Democrats are looking at this thing like, 'Holy crap — are we going to have democracy after this election?' And you got a heartbeat of hope: Kamala Harris raising her hand and saying, 'I'll handle this.' And it has just released a flood of energy. And I think it's going to continue for a while."
Watch the clip below or at this link.
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