‘They Don’t Control Me’—Vernon Jones on Cancel Culture & Leaving the Democratic Party | CPAC 2021

They talk about this big tent of diversity. You know what? There's one exception. When it comes to African American men and women with independent thinking and conservative values, we don't belong. We're here with Vernon Jones at CPAC. Of course, the theme of CPAC is America Uncanceled. You're a bit familiar, I think, with the idea of cancellation. Personally, I'm familiar with it because I was a lifelong Democrat who came out to support President Trump. My party called me an embarrassment. They told me I should resign. They told me I didn't share their values. I guess I don't. At the same time, liberal networks don't let me on their stations because I wasn't carrying the narrative of a victim or calling President Trump a racist. In fact, Joe Biden is the one who has the bigotry in him, the Democratic Party, but they don't want me to talk about that. I have never been given any real opportunity to be on the CNNs and ABCs and NBCs because I am an independent thinking African American man with conservative values. They don't want me to have that because I guess I have influence on bringing people in who traditionally have just been voting Democrat. I say specifically African Americans. They're horrified by me, the left, because they don't control me like they traditionally have done. All they do is get the black vote and use it to carry out a very liberal agenda that has nothing to do with the black community and have not done anything for them in the past 60 years. This is really interesting. You may have covered this on other interviews, but you were a Democrat for quite some time. Did you change? Did the Democratic Party change? What happened? I always tell people, I didn't leave the party, the party left me. The party 30 years ago, when I first joined, is not the party of today. 30 years ago, we were fiscally responsible. 30 years ago, we believed in the First and the Second Amendment. 30 years ago, it was about doing things that make this country great, bringing this country together. You can have an independent voice. Now the Democratic Party, if you don't carry their water exactly like they want it, they don't want you around, they don't want you involved, they call you an embarrassment, and they talk about this big tent of diversity. There's one exception. When it comes to African American men and women with independent thinking and conservative values, we don't belong. But you can be white, independent thinking, and conservative and be a Democrat, and they don't say anything about that. Matter of fact, they support those candidates. When those candidates run, they say, well, I know they don't vote with the Democratic Party, but they're in these races where they have to vote that way or else they'll lose their seat. My thing is, well, hell, why don't you support a Republican who's moderate, rather than support a Democrat who's not even on your agenda, but still, they give them passes. But somebody like me, that's conservative, have those same values, that's just how I was raised, so I haven't changed. They see it differently. That's why you're seeing more and more African Americans waking up. That's why I mentioned to you earlier, I started this organization, WakingUpAmerica.us, because we're out carrying a conservative message to everybody. But more and more African Americans now are waking up, they're becoming woke, and they're seeing the light. How the Democratic Party has never in the past 30, 40 years, have had any real interest in their agenda, like Donald Trump did. Donald Trump came on the scene. When he was campaigning to that black church in Flint, Michigan, he said, what do you have to lose to vote for Republicans? For me, I've been voting Democrats. He got in a lot of trouble for saying that. He got in a lot of trouble for saying that. But Joe Biden can stay in the same black church and say, hey, if you vote for Republicans, they're going to put you back in chains. He should have been blasted for that. So my point, Donald Trump came on the scene. What did he do? He worked with prison reform, released a lot of those African American nonviolent offenders that were jailed because of Democratic policies, including Joe Biden. That same Donald Trump went to historical black colleges, HBCUs, where they were coming year in and year out begging for funding. What did he do? He wrote the funding into law. That same Donald Trump did opportunity zone districts that are in many areas that are dilapidated and devastated by Democratic policies, and creating job opportunities and redevelopment. That's Donald Trump. He did that in just four years, when in fact, Democrats hadn't done anything like that in 40, 50 years. Everything that you're saying to conservatives might sound perfectly reasonable, but it's probably unbelievable to people that are conservative. Would you agree? You know what? Here's what's interesting. Every parent wants their child to have a quality education, right? Isn't it ironic, though, when you look right now at their families, their children are trapped in failing schools based on their zip code, and they want their child to have a better education. Democrats, liberals, it doesn't matter. Republicans, we all agree on that. Conservatives, however, Democrats want our children to remain in those schools where Republicans are saying, look, don't trap this kid in that school, in this failing school. Let the parent have a choice, school choice, to send their child to a performing school. Let the money follow the child. And you know what? That makes a difference. Because what's interesting, many families, many black mothers and fathers have lied about their address to get their child out of failing school and put them in a performing school. And when the administration found out that they lied about the address, they throw the child out of that school. No sanctuary school for that child. And then they want the mother and father to be arrested. Well, aren't they trying to do the same thing that you say about the illegals coming over here? They want a better life for their children. Well, you have Americans who want a better life for their children. That's why Donald Trump is saying, look, America first. We're okay with immigration. Fine. Let's do that. But wait a minute, let's put America first for a change. And that's what most Americans in the Republican Party, and probably quite frankly, those who just haven't been shaped, their views haven't been shaped by the liberal media, when they look at Donald Trump's record and what he actually did, you can't disagree with him. It's very interesting. I think that it's very hard for a lot of Americans to actually understand what former President Trump's record actually was. Of course, we covered this at The Epoch Times and so forth, but that just information isn't readily available. Well, what they did, they knew he was performing. They wanted to write his record off, and they switched people's attention from his record to his personality. He's not presidential. Obama was presidential, but guess what? Obama failed in immigration. Obama failed in school chores. Obama failed in prison reform. Obama failed in holding these other countries accountable. Obama failed in China and all those places in terms of competing. They failed. They didn't write about it because they don't want it to be in history, where people can look back and look at what his administration did. I know what that's like. And so that's what's so sad about it. Russia, Russia, Russia went on for three and a half years. Where is it? No one was arrested based on Russia, Russia, Russia. The president was actually spied on his campaign. The FBI lied in FISA courts and everywhere else. The whole top FBI was rotting from Comey on down in the brass—not the rank and file, but the brass. Trump was right. The media was wrong. They knew there was nothing there, but it was to damage him. Another thing, what happened on January 6 was wrong, those who broke the law. But there were thousands and thousands of peaceful patriots who were standing up for their First Amendment, who loved their country, who wanted to hold their officials accountable. Now those who broke the law, there's no excuse for that. But the Democrats and Joe Biden, all of them want to hang President Trump with that, with those who broke the law. I listened to his speech. I didn't go and break the law. You can't control them. But guess what? As more information came out, the White House knew, I mean, the Capitol knew that something was going to happen. The FBI knew something was going to happen. The Capitol Police knew something was going to happen. But guess what? Those first few weeks, it was all blamed on Donald Trump. But let me back up. The whole summer, Black Lives Matter and Antifa, what were they doing? They were burning federal courthouses down, police stations, police cars, over 700 police officers assaulted, 26 people killed, including a young Black girl in my home state in Atlanta, Georgia, eight years old, shot through the car with her mother. In New York, a one-year-old baby girl shot through the stroller. Not a single word from those on the left, from Nancy Pelosi to Maxine Waters, they were encouraging those folks to do that type of violence. Wait a minute. There were multiple insurgents there on government property too, and on police officers, and Black businesses burned down. Everybody's business was burned down. They were coming and literally taking over city blocks. The city was bringing them what, port-a-johns and just actually helping them to take over the city. They started defunding the police. That same city that defunded all those police officers, they lost police officers, they lost support, and then they started being fearful for their lives. Now they just recently came back and spent more money to get more police officers to come back. That goes to show you Donald Trump from day one was on the side of law enforcement, and they wanted to defund the police. Who are you going to send to a house called Domestic Call? A social worker? Well, who's going to protect the social worker? They had the right string, but the wrong yo-yo. We're going to finish up momentarily. One last question. Waking up America. You mentioned America's becoming more—I thought I heard you say woke, but waking up America isn't exactly about becoming more woke from what I'm gathering here. What I'm really doing is, again, waking up America's focus on American values, faith-based, hard work, work ethic, school choice, so kids can really get a quality education, supporting law enforcement, fighting socialism, and fighting communism, and fighting those isms that's hurting this country. It's not the American way. We're carrying this message all across the country, whether you're Democrat, Republican, it doesn't matter. Not too many people can disagree that those aren't important issues to stand on. It was easy for me because this is how I was reared. These are my values. I grew up on a farm in North Carolina. My mom said, stand up for what you believe in. Express yourself. Now the left is trying to kill the First Amendment. My mom and dad felt like we have the right to bear arms responsibly using guns to protect families, to go hunting, things of that nature. Those are things I want to reach out to. To young people, they love the environment. I want to reach out to them on preserving the environment—wildlife, natural life—also on social justice. You can work on social justice without going off the cliff. You can work on the environment without going off the cliff. There are some who talk about, in 12 years, our planet is going to fall apart. We know that's not true. There are things we can do with moderation. I think the Republican Party needs to do more to reach out to young people, bring them in, and talk about those issues that are important to them. I also think we have to go all the way down to elementary school because you have teachers from elementary school to college who are on the left, who are teaching these kids, or I should say, putting kids in an environment where they're using their political views, and it happens to be the left, and those kids on the right, they're afraid to say anything because they're looked upon as if something's wrong with them. When teachers are literally calling Republicans Klansmen, when in fact Democrats start the Klan, when teachers are saying that President Trump is this and that in a very negative tone, and there are other kids who come from families that support President Trump, but they're afraid to say something. We're just trying to get down and root this out and have us recalibrate in a sense. Thomas Jefferson said, and this is what I think Trump did, Trump brought a revolution to this country with his administration, to the world. What is a revolution? Radical change. Thomas Jefferson said we need to go through a revolution every 20 years. When you start doing the same old thing, you're drifting. Sometimes you have to do a radical change and pull the country back. That's what Donald Trump has done. The left is horrified. A lot of Democrats don't really know what's going on in Washington. When I discuss with my friends who are Democrats, I say, on the House floor in Washington now, you can't say brother, you have to say my sibling. That's crazy. That's the party you're supporting. When I say, you know what, bio, transgender bio males are competing in female sports. Would you like your daughter? No, I don't want my daughter to compete because biologically there is a difference. You guys are voting for these people. It's because the media has tuned that out where they don't see that going on. They're just following Democrats. When you start looking what Democrats are doing, it's destructive to this country. But they have a right to express themselves. I believe in supporting the First Amendment, but they don't want you and others and me to have the First Amendment to speak and express ourselves. That's where I'm carrying my message across this country. People are buying into it. Democrats are horrified with me because I'm supposed to be black, and I'm supposed to support Democrats. This is your first time actually at CPAC. Tell me about the experience. Let me tell you, it's kind of interesting. It is my first time. I'm a part of the Grand Ole Party now. I feel at home. People around me here that I met and talked to from all across this country, we have a lot in common. Gosh, that feels good. Like I'm with family. There's energy here too. CPAC has brought together some of the most patriotic Americans that you can find that's committed to 2022 and 2024. The planning is going on. The organization is going on. The networking is going on. We are planning to retake the Congress in 2022. You're seeing a lot of candidates here. You're seeing a lot of workshops, a lot of speakers here who are encouraging people. Wow, this is where it all starts. CPAC is the official, in my mind, launch of the 2022 election. I'm seeing more African Americans in the Republican Party now. Here, there are a number of African American candidates who are running for Congress across the country. When I say Congress, the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. I think this is new for them. This is historical for CPAC. Max Slap's leadership, he gets it. He understands it. He's supportive, been supportive of the president. This has been an incredible opportunity for me. It's historical for me too. But I am more energized and more dedicated, like all of us here. You don't see this on the liberal network. You don't see the gathering. You don't hear them having different voices. It's all one-sided, the CNNs of the world. But this reinforces that, wait a minute, there are too many people out there to think like I think, feel like I feel, believe what I believe. I'm meeting some of those same 74 million people that voted for Donald J. Trump. So we're here. We're armed, we're getting stronger, we're getting bigger. Well, such a pleasure to speak with you. Thank you so much.