Georgia state Rep. Vernon Jones suggested a question he was asked by an MSNBC anchor proves his point about “bigotry” within the national media and the Democratic Party.
“He asked me something that just blew me away,” Jones said in a video posted to his Twitter account late Wednesday about his interview with Craig Melvin.
“Are you a paid campaign surrogate, are you being compensated by the [Trump campaign],” Melvin asked Jones.
Jones, a black Democrat who has expressed support for President Trump, immediately responded by calling the question “disgraceful.” He further vented in a Twitter video, claiming he has not received any money from Trump’s campaign or anyone associated with it.
“These are my own individual thoughts. But that’s the bigotry in the liberal media and the Democratic Party that African Americans cannot think by themselves,” Jones said. “I’ve been in politics 30 years. I’m college educated. Better than that, I have plenty of walking around sense. I know who the hell I want to vote for.”
The question from Melvin highlighted what Jones said is a longstanding narrative within media that black people cannot support Republicans or conservatives without “selling out” for “30 pieces of silver.”
The local Democratic Party in Georgia has disavowed Jones for expressing his support for Trump.
Representing one of the state’s most Democratic statehouse districts, Jones ended his Twitter video with a “message” for “the liberal media and Democrats.”
“Vernon Jones is un-bought and un-bossed,” he said. “And you are not gonna silence me … I’m gonna pull that sheet back and show everybody that bigotry.”
