As Donald Trump teeters on the brink of victory Wednesday morning, CNN commentator VanJones He became emotional as he talked about the fear and pain many supporters felt after Kamala Harris lost the presidency. In a hoarse voice, Jones reflected on the “pain” experienced by Black women running for vice president.

“I’m thinking about the people who are suffering tonight, who are not part of anyone’s elite.” Jones said. “There are African American women who have been trying to dream big for the last few months and have known little about the humiliation and the crushing of their economic dreams. And tonight they trade a lot of hope for a lot of pain. Maybe this time they were hoping – this time — one of them may be considered valuable.”

Jones has served as a sort of proxy for blue-state sentiment during CNN’s last few election hearings. The former Obama Administration advisor, activist and commentator expressed raw emotion in 2016 as it became clear that Trump would replace then-candidate Hillary Clinton in the first term. “This was a white whip against a changing country,” he said at the time. “This was partly a white whip against a black president, and that’s the part where the pain comes.” At the time, he called on Trump to “…go out and reassure people that he will be the president of all the people he has insulted and offended and pushed aside.”

He made a similar request for winners in 2024 to consider those who supported the losers. “And once again they’re facing rejection, and that hurts,” Jones added. “They thought that tomorrow morning they would be able to walk with their shoulders back, maybe breathe for the first time, and feel like they belonged somewhere. “They’ve done everything they know how to do, and it’s going to be harder for them to keep their heads up than it should be.”

Jones highlighted the sense of shock felt in certain corners of the country, highlighting other groups targeted by Trump and his campaign during the White House race, such as members of the LGBTQ community and undocumented immigrants.

“If you’re the parent of a transgender child, your child’s face has been used as a springboard to empower someone,” Jones said. “This doesn’t feel very good. Tomorrow there will be people, we will distribute clothes at the dry cleaners to people who do not have papers. Tomorrow there will be people without papers cleaning their teeth. And tonight they will be terrified.”

“It’s very easy to just brush it off and say ‘oh the elite, they’re going to get the punishment they deserve,'” Jones said. “The elites won’t be the ones paying the price. People who will wake up this morning with a dream and go to sleep with a nightmare.”