Jesse Watters wasn’t always a Fox News star immersed in politics. However, his journey from uninformed student to political commentator began while in college.
Following his speech at the Turning Point USA’s High School Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C., last week, Watters reflected on his days as a young conservative and provided insight on important issues facing America’s next generation.
“I was not politically active in college. I was socially active and didn’t really become political until later in college,” Watters told Red Alert Politics. “I think I had a little too much to drink and was watching C-SPAN and started thinking to myself wait a second, maybe I’m a Republican.”
Born to liberal parents, Watters added that it wasn’t difficult to “come out” as a conservative.
“It wasn’t like I came out of the closet. It was more making them listen to Limbaugh on family car trips. It drove them crazy but it made my dad drive faster.”
Perhaps in his most important advice for young individuals, Watters noted that being a conservative is more than just politics. It is an outlook on life.
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“Listen, I think being conservative prepares you well for the real world because you’re not soft. You have low expectations about human behavior. You understand the value of hard work and diligence. You understand life is not just going to be handed to you on a silver platter. As long as you understand those things and work really hard, you’ll do really well in life if you do what you love.”
On the issues he believes the next generation of Americans will face, Watters highlighted political correctness and immigration as two key areas.
“I think political correctness can be really detrimental because it shuts down different ideas. When [college students] say something, it’s going to be deemed politically incorrect and offensive. I think that’s wrong because every smart American can understand the difference between something that’s wrong and offensive, and something that’s just a different opinion.”
“Immigration is changing the country a lot. It’s driving down wages. Some of these cities are not what they used to be. For Americans who live here and American workers who want to get ahead, work hard, and earn a living, the immigration situation can have a long term effect on the viability of workers in this country.”
