CNN's Van Jones has moment of clarity about why Harris didn't pick Josh Shapiro

Vice President Kamala Harris' final decision of running mate came down to the choice between two Democratic governors: Tim Walz of Minnesota, a blue state that Harris was poised to win anyway; and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, a critically important swing state with 19 electoral college votes where President Donald Trump is presently leading in the polls.

Harris ultimately picked Walz — who apparently fabricated details of his military service, prompting allegations of "stolen valor"; allowed BLM rioters to devastate Minneapolis; and transformed his state into a haven for child sex-change mutilations.

While Shapiro has been dogged by an intra-office sexual abuse scandal, CNN talking head Van Jones acknowledged Tuesday that he was likely sidelined for another, "darker" reason.

CNN host Jim Acosta asked Jones whether he thought it was "a little risky that [Harris] didn't go with Shapiro to kind of lock down Pennsylvania."

Jones responded, "The conservatives, the right wing, the Republicans — they were chewing their fingernails down to the knuckle because they were afraid of a Josh Shapiro, they were afraid of a Mark Kelly. They are not as afraid of this new governor because they think they can define him."

"So here's the challenge you've got in this party, and people don't want to talk about it. We got to talk about it," continued Jones. "On the one hand, you have a lot of young people concerned about Gaza. You have a lot of Muslims and Arabs and others. They have not felt seen by the Biden administration. You started hearing that 'Genocide Joe.' That was building."

'You also have anti-Semitism that has gotten marbled into this party.'

According to Jones, "those folks needed to have a candidate that they could feel comfortable with."

Whereas Walz is a leftist Lutheran who has expressed support for a peaceful solution to the Israel-Hamas war, Shapiro is a proud Jewish American who let people believe for decades that he volunteered for the Israeli military and has reportedly compared anti-Israel protesters to the KKK.

Leftists seized upon Shapiro's identity and support for Israel after learning Harris was considering him as a running mate and quickly transitioned from their "Genocide Joe" campaign to a "Genocide Josh" campaign.

The website for the "No Genocide Josh" campaign stated, "Electing a Vice Presidential nominee with anti-Palestinian and pro-war views will depress turnout among Muslim, Arab-American, and young voters, and greatly reduce the excitement that comes with a new nominee."

"It is in Harris's and the Democrats' best interests to listen to their base and ensure that both their new VP pick and their platform support the majority of Democrats and Americans who want social and economic justice for workers and an immediate ceasefire in Palestine," added the anti-Shapiro site.

Although Walz has condemned anti-Semitism in the past, expressed support for Israel as "America's truest and closest ally" in the Middle East, and spoken out about pro-Hamas supporters' antagonism of Jewish students, Jones intimated that prospective Harris voters' prejudice might cut deeper than policy positions.

"You also have anti-Semitism that has gotten marbled into this party," said Jones. "You can be for the Palestinians without being an anti-Jewish bigot, but there are some anti-Jewish bigots out there."

"And there has to be conversations about how much of what just happened is caving into some of these darker parts in the party. So that’s going to have to get worked out. It's going to have to get talked through," added Jones.

Jones is neither the first media personality nor the first Democrat to admit the Democratic Party has a major anti-Semitism problem.

In May, comedian Bill Maher noted that while there might be anti-Semitism on both sides of the political spectrum, "The left wing is even worse."

Michael Rapaport, who was in recent years one of Trump's most outspoken critics, indicated earlier this year that he was considering voting for the Republican in large part because of the left's growing antagonism toward Israel and Jews.

After spending a lifetime as a Democrat, former New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind joined the Republican Party last year, stating, "The Democratic Party has become so radicalized, so radical, run by the radicals, that people who are moderates or conservative Democrats are not welcomed in the Democratic Party."

Jones is also not alone in suspecting that Shapiro was kicked to the curb in order to appease anti-Semites in the Democratic Party.

Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) told CNN Monday, "Those in the overly online left who are attacking Josh Shapiro's pro-Israel positions in a different way than they are attacking non-Jewish veep contenders' positions, they're just telling on themselves. There's a strong undercurrent of antisemitism."

"Every contender's positions on all policy issues, their track records in elective office, all of that is fair game. That is totally open to be subjected to interrogation and to questioning by the Harris team, by observers. But holding him to a different standard because of his religion just simply isn't who we are as a Democratic Party," continued Auchincloss.

Evidently Auchincloss was off in terms of his optimistic assessment of his party.

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