‘We Use Everything’: Democrat Justin Jones Tells Velshi ‘Nothing’s Off the Table’ to ‘Fight Back’ Against Trump

Tennessee State Rep. Justin Jones, a Democrat, said on MSNBC Saturday that no measures are out of bounds or off the table for the “resistance” against President Donald Trump, drawing enthusiastic agreement from MSNBC host Ali Velshi.

On the latest episode of MSNBC’s Velshi, the host spoke with Jones on the subject of “fighting fire with fire,” as Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom has put it when discussing gerrymandering his own state to get back at Republicans for redistricting in Texas.

Jones, who made a name for himself when he and two other state representatives helped lead protesters in occupying the Tennessee House to protest against gun violence. Jones was subsequently expelled from the House, but was reinstated a week later after blaming the vote on racism. The activist politician has been a public voice on other issues as well since those events, and on Saturday was equally unreserved in his commentary.

After a glowing introduction of Jones as someone who has been “standing up to Republicans” for years,

“Brother Jones, welcome back to the show,” Velshi said. “You are living this. Not only have you done it, but you actually got reelected by your constituents to go back and fight some more. You have set this flavor out there a while ago that people want fighters.”

Velshi further prompted his guest by stating in the question that people are willing to forego some good morals if opponents are “burning the house down” and “you need to do something.”

“I mean, that’s exactly right, Brother Ali,” Jones said. “You know, the house is on fire, we have to stop pretending like we don’t smell the smoke. It’s time for America to wake up and put our morals above our manners.”

“Now is not the time to engage in trying to play patty-cake with a party that’s been captured by fascists and neo-Confederates,” Jones said. “There is no bipartisanship anymore with a party that is intent on maintaining minority rule between tech oligarchs, White supremacists, and Christian nationalists.”

He added that it’s imperative to “fight back” and “lean into” a “proportionate response” to the threat he says Republicans pose.

“If we’re serious about the threat of fascism, that means that there is nothing off the table,” he said, raising the stakes. “If we’re really serious about the threat that we face, that means we use everything at our table to fight back.”

“Right,” Velshi agreed. “Because you will not be around to fight back if you don’t fight it now.”

VELSHI: You have set this flavor out there a while ago that people want fighters. And right now voters are screaming out for this. They want people who will say, your morals should be good, but if they’re burning the house down you need to do something.

JONES: I mean, that’s exactly right, Brother Ali. You know, the house is on fire, we have to stop pretending like we don’t smell the smoke. It’s time for America to wake up and put our morals above our manners. Now is not the time to engage in trying to play patty-cake with a party that’s been captured by fascists and neo-Confederates.

There is no bipartisanship anymore with a party that is intent on maintaining minority rule between tech oligarchs, White supremacists, and Christian nationalists. They want a minority-run government, and they’re willing to do this at any means necessary. We must fight back.

You know, I think that we will be judged not by what we do, but by what we don’t do, to future generations.

Now is the time to lean into the instinct to say that we must meet with proportionate response to the forces that we face, and look, so we can look our children, our future generations, in the face and say we did everything in our power to stand up and fight back, to save our democracy.

Because if we’re serious about the threat of fascism, that means that there is nothing off the table. If we’re really serious about the threat that we face—

VELSHI: Right.

JONES: That means we use everything at our table to fight back.

VELSHI: Because you will not be around to fight back if you don’t fight it now. Right!

Watch the clip above via MSNBC.