In a shocking display of raw partisan ferocity on CNN, Texas Democratic state representative Jolanda Jones tossed civility aside and embraced a take-no-prisoners approach to politics — even bragging she’d rather “go across your neck” than trade punches. Her remarks on Wednesday’s *OutFront* were equal parts alarming and revealing: a candid admission that for some on the left, scorched-earth politics is now official policy.
Jones, who openly said she “came from the hood,” used that background to justify a politics of ruthless retaliation. “If a bully comes,” she told host Erin Burnett, “you literally have to figure it out.” She then explained — with a grotesque throat-slitting gesture — that she prefers tactics meant to permanently incapacitate opponents rather than engage in back-and-forth sparring: “If you hit me in my face, I’m not going to punch you back in your face. I’m going to go across your neck.”
That imagery landed like a punch in the gut. Whether Jones intended it literally or as crude metaphor, the point was unmistakable: whoever wins the political fight should remove rivals from the field entirely. She doubled down, saying Democrats should “wipe out” Republicans in states like New York, California and Illinois in retaliation for losses in places such as Texas — a vow to pursue electoral annihilation rather than persuasion.
Jones tried to paint her rhetoric as nothing more than warrior-like advocacy for her constituents. “No one can make me feel bad about fighting for the people that I represent,” she declared. “The people that I represent need someone who’s willing to go in the ring and fight for them.” But her version of “fighting” — celebrating political destruction and making throat-cutting gestures on national television — is a far cry from the civic muscle the country needs.
Republicans were right to call out the spectacle. Conservative commentators pointed to the grotesque symbolism and warned how this kind of language normalizes political violence and intimidation. That worry isn’t paranoia; heated rhetoric has consequences in a nation already fractured by bitterness and contempt.
This episode is instructive for several reasons. First, it exposes the raw rhetorical strategy behind many on the modern left: not persuasion, but pulverization. Where once Democrats aspired to broaden their appeal, some now openly celebrate tactics aimed at pure partisan conquest. Second, it’s a reminder that the media — which often lionizes performative outrage on the left — will nonetheless treat the same behavior as news when the target is graphic enough. Jones’s comments weren’t condemned for nuance; they were newsworthy precisely because they were extreme.
Finally, Jones’s outburst underscores a political choice Democrats are making: double down on scorched-earth politics or reclaim the old playbook of coalition-building and persuasion. Voters tired of performance politics and raw partisanship may take note.
If Democrats hope to win back voters — especially swing and working-class Americans who prize stability and decency — rhetoric like Jones’s won’t help. It may satisfy the base, but it alienates the persuadable middle and contributes to the dangerous normalization of political tribalism. In an era when our institutions already strain under partisanship, elected officials should choose words that heal rather than inflame. Jolanda Jones chose otherwise.
