Vernon Jones made his defection from the Democratic Party public last year while serving as a Georgia state congressman, throwing a strong endorsement behind former president Donald Trump as well. In a recent podcast discussion, Jones took aim at his former political party, saying that Black voters within the group would blindly pull the lever in favor of notorious former Ku Klux Klan leader, David Duke.
Jones, 60, was a guest on conservative media figure Gianno Caldwell’s OutLoud podcast, and the bulk of the discussion was centered on the episode’s title, “Exposed: Racism Within the Democratic Party,” with Caldwell and Jones both taking strong positions to speak of the Democratic Party with derision and stark judgment by essentially stating that the party’s agenda of Black Americans is “destructive.”
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Much of Jones’ recent fanfare came in April 2020 when he famously resigned from his office and referred to the move as leaving the “plantation” as he wrote in his final resignation letter. The vehemence for the Democratic Party, which, reportedly, Jones was his entire adult life, was inflamed by Caldwell’s take that the Democrats have harbored racists among its ranks.
A notable point in the discussion touched on Jones changing parties officially at the top of the year and those who may have been critical of his party switch. Jones, now a Republican, has long considered himself a conservative, going on to mention he knows liberal members of his newly-adopted party in the process and conservative Democrats.
The conversation, however, took a turn by suggesting Black people are so easily led by the Democratic Party that the infamous Duke would get their votes simply if he was a member of the party.
“I have people I’ve known all my life, and they’re madder at me for believing what I believe in than their real oppressor,” Jones said of Black Democrats in his personal life.
“Joe Biden is the one who said you can’t think. Joe Biden is the one who said if you don’t vote for him you ain’t Black. Joe Biden the one said he didn’t want his kids to grow up in a racial jungle. He was the one who jailed your Black men,” Jones continued.
Jones then connected David Duke to his string of thoughts while all but coming a hair short of calling Black Democratic Party voters inept when it comes to the civic process.
“You know, David Duke today, someone Black folks see as a big Klansman, could run as a Democrat today and Black people would vote for him just because he has a D beside his name,” Jones rattled off.
Duke, who served in the Louisiana House of Representatives between 1989 to 1992, was described as “perhaps America’s most well-known racist and anti-Semite” by the Anti-Defamation League. Despite Jones’ inflammatory comments, Duke did previously ran as a Democratic candidate, including for U.S. president in 1988 in which he received less than 1% in the primary.
In 2020, Duke was permanently banned from YouTube and Twitter for his use of hate speech.
Aside from his comment about Black people voting for David Duke, Jones also introduced his latest project, Waking Up America, which frames itself as “working to educate and inform the public on issues related to economic opportunity, educational freedom and civic engagement.”
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He made it clear that the conservative talking point of school choice is an undertaking dear to him while also taking aims at the other side, accusing them of giving immigrants preferential treatment.
“You have illegals that can come across the border, illegally, and you give them a place to sleep, put them in a school, give them all these wraparound services and you have American children who are trapped in these failing schools,” Jones began.
“When the mother lies [by using a false address] to get their kids into a performing school, because she wants better for her kid too, where’s the sanctuary for that child? Why is that parent arrested? It does not make sense. Black families want their children in performing schools, why can’t the money follow the child,” he concluded.
This prompted Caldwell to suggest that the nation become a “colorblind society, especially when it comes to the application of law” with Jones interjecting that immigrants are essentially stealing money from the nation due to the bevy of services and assistance with Caldwell in agreement.
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