‘Turn the lights off, I have left the plantation…’
(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) The Georgia Democrat who endorsed President Donald Trump earlier this month retracted his resignation on Thursday and accused his Democratic colleagues of trying to bully him out of the party.
State Rep. Vernon Jones, of Dekalb County, had agreed to step down this week after Democrats attacked him for backing Trump’s reelection bid.
“Turn the lights off, I have left the plantation,” Jones told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday. “Someone else can occupy that suite,” he said of his state House seat. “Therefore, I intend not to complete my term effective April 22, 2020.”
The “barrage of attacks and name-calling by the far left” prompted Jones to step down, he explained in a video. But upon further reflection, Jones said he realized that he could not let the Democrats silence him.
“I thought about it, and I talked to my family, and I talked to my supporters. Because of what you did for me, I am going to remain on the battlefield,” he said, seeming to address his newfound base of right-wing fans.
“I am going to complete my term,” he continued. “I am going to continue to put my country before my party, and I’m going to do everything I can to get Donald J. Trump reelected.”
Yesterday, I announced my intentions to resign from my office. But shortly thereafter, the outpour of support I received was too great for me to ignore.
I will not allow the Democrats to bully me into submission. I will not let them win.
I will NOT resign. #MAGA pic.twitter.com/gR2MsU5Rb3
— Vernon Jones (@RepVernonJones) April 23, 2020
Jones endorsed Trump earlier this month because of the president’s “handling of the economy, his support for historically black colleges, and his criminal justice initiatives.”
He was immediately attacked by other Democrats, who accused him of siding with a “racist president” against his own community.
Jones is an “embarrassment” to the party who clearly “does not stand for our values,” said Nikema Williams, the chairwoman of Georgia’s Democratic Party.
“Vernon Jones doesn’t speak for Georgians, and neither does Donald Trump—which is why Georgians will send him home in November 2020,” she said.