Georgia Democrat Rips Craig Melvin for Asking if He Was Paid to Support Trump: MSNBC Wants to ‘Keep Blacks Silent’ if They Back Trump

Democratic Georgia state Rep. Vernon Jones gave MSNBC host Craig Melvin a fiery response after Melvin asked the Trump campaign surrogate if he was being paid to support the president’s reelection campaign.

“Are you a paid campaign surrogate?” Melvin asked Jones during a segment of his program.

“Let me be clear. You get paid to shape a liberal narrative. You get paid to attack this president. I don’t get a dime from this president,” Jones responded in clear outrage.

Melvin, raising his eyebrows, attempting to move on, acknowledged Melvin’s response. “Asked and answered,” Melvin said.

Jones didn’t stop. “Everything that I’ve done is based on me and my principles. See, that’s the problem. Whenever an African American…”

Melvin replied indignantly: “No, no, whoa, whoa, I did not raise your race — you’re not going to imply that I asked that question because you’re black.”

Jones responded, “So don’t ask me that. You only ask me that because I don’t fit your narrative. No, this president has never offered anything. I don’t want anything from this president. It’s about what I can do for my country.

“You need to accept that many other African Americans and others support this president because of his policies. And to insult me, to say, ‘Am I getting paid,’ that is disgraceful,” Jones added. “That is horrible. And that is representative of MSNBC and their narrative to keep Blacks silent who happen to support this president.”

Jones closed by asking Melvin if he asked Democrats the same question. “Why can’t I be like white liberals or other whites? No one questions if they’re getting paid. So I have to get paid? Do you ask Democrats if they get paid by Joe Biden?”

Melvin claimed that he did. “I have,” Melvin said, before ending the segment.

The July 29 interview was at least the second time this week MSNBC asked a Trump supporter if they were being compensated. “Has Donald Trump ever promised you anything financially in exchange for your blind support of this administration?” the network’s Tiffany Cross asked Bruce Levell, the director of Trump’s National Diversity Coalition, in a July 25 interview. “No,” Levell replied.

Watch above via MSNBC.