CJ Pearson’s biography, net worth, fact, career, awards and life story

Coreco Ja’Quan Pearson (born July 31, 2002) is an American conservative political activist and commentator.

Born in Augusta, Georgia, Pearson was raised in Grovetown. His political interest deepened at age eight, when he started posting blog post in support of local conservative politicians. He embarked on a career as an internet personality when, in early 2015, he uploaded a video to YouTube defending comments made by former mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani and criticism of former President Barack Obama, which quickly gained international attention. After the aforementioned event, he began his career as a freelance journalist and has campaigned for several Republican politicians and Bernie Sanders.

Pearson describes himself as an “anti-establishment populist” and is described as conservative. He is the executive director of Young Georgians in Government and executive director of Teens for Trump.

Early life and education

Pearson was born as Coreco Ja’Quan Pearson on July 31, 2002, in Augusta, Georgia, his parents registered Democrat. In 2012, his family moved to Grovetown where Pearson attended Columbia Middle School. He was elected student body president in seventh grade, though he stepped down in order to form the Young Georgians in Government political group and participate in other political activities. In 2016, he started attending Evans High School as a freshman. He lives with his grandparents, Willie and Robin Pearson.

Career

Political activism

Pearson first became interested in politics when his first grade class held a mock presidential election, representing that of the 2008 United States presidential election. Pearson states that the class was instructed to research the political views of then-U.S. Senator from Illinois Barack Obama who ran as the Democratic presidential nominee (and who became the 44th U.S. president) and Senator from Arizona John McCain who ran as the Republican presidential nominee. He voted for John McCain in the mock election, because he was inspired by McCain’s military service, and began following political news topics. At the age of eight, he started blogging in support of different conservative politicians in Georgia and participated in political campaigning in the 2014 United States midterm elections, conducting door-to-door and telephone surveys. After the 2014 midterm elections, Pearson founded a political group named Young Georgians in Government, to involve young people in the “political process and develop solutions for government.”

In February 2015, Pearson received international media attention which led him to embark in his career in politics and journalism, after he created a YouTube channel on February 21, 2015, and two days later posted a video, “President Obama: Do you really love America?” in which he defended former mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani about the comments Giuliani had made criticizing former President Barack Obama. Pearson also criticized Obama, saying, “If you really did love America, you would call (Islamic State) what it really is: an assault on Christianity, an assault on America and downright hate for the American values that our country holds—freedom of speech, freedom of religion and every single thing that our country stands for”. The video received more than half a million views in its first two days and by June 2015 had logged nearly two million views, with it receiving both praise and criticism.

Pearson, in March 2015, began promoting his own constitutional amendment to lower the age restriction for assuming public office in Georgia to age 18 in the House and age 21 in the Senate. He has acquired seven co-sponsors for the bill, including State Representatives Ben Harbin, Barry Fleming, and Buzz Brockway.

During the 2016 United States presidential election, Pearson has campaigned for several different Republican presidential nominees. In April 2015, he campaigned for United States Senator from Kentucky Rand Paul’s presidential campaign and said that Paul has a “unique ability” to connect with millennials. Later that year, in September 2015, Pearson left Paul’s campaign and joined United States Senator from Texas Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign, and Cruz named Pearson as national chairman of “Teens for Ted”, with Cruz commenting “Young people are looking for someone who does more than just talk a good game. They want someone who has walked the walk,” Pearson after Cruz had dropped out said that he disavowed conservatism. Pearson then endorsed Bernie Sanders and then when Sanders dropped out he joined now-President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign as national chairman of Teens for Trump.

Journalism and writing

Pearson is a freelance journalist, and his publications have appeared on TIME, The Huffington Post, MTV News, The Daily Beast, among others, and is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists. Pearson also has his own website, where he posts regular blogs.

Political views

Over the timeline of Pearson’s career, he has changed political views and has changed support from candidate to candidate in the 2016 United States presidential election. Pearson, when first embarking on a political commentator career after the viral YouTube video he made in February 2015, described himself as conservative in addition to the media.

In November 2015, Pearson changed his political views, and “renounced conservatism” and was questioning the ideology of the Republican Party, stating that “My views on the issues aren’t going to be dictated by one political platform or another.” In December 2015, Pearson endorsed United States Senator from Vermont Independent Bernie Sanders for President of the United States in the 2016 elections. Pearson stated, “People are struggling in America. We need the right man in the White House. And in my opinion, that man is Senator Bernie Sanders.” Later that month, Pearson published an article for MTV criticizing Trump and his presidential campaign, stating that the thought of a Trump presidency “…scares the crap out of me,”

In August 2016, Pearson published an article in TIME in support of Trump, noting that his political views have changed drastically since 2015. He also noted that he supported Sanders and now Trump because, in his view, their campaign platforms had a lot of similarity. Pearson states that he is an “anti-establishment populist” and is a Christian. However, as of 2018, he describes himself on his Twitter feed as “fighting for a bold conservative future.” Pearson has been compared as the “right-wing version” of teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg.

Controversies

White House–Twitter

On September 23, 2015, Pearson claimed that he was blocked from President Barack Obama’s official presidential social media account on Twitter, due to comments he made criticizing Obama for inviting Ahmed Mohamed to the White House after Mohamed was suspended for bringing an invention to school. Official White House assistant press secretary Frank Benenati made a statement that no one has ever been blocked from Obama’s account, with other users on Twitter challenging Beneati’s statement regarding the matter. Pearson denounced the claim made by the White House, stated that they were lying about him. “They lied about Benghazi,” he said, “They lied about the IRS. They lie about every issue of importance to the American people.” A subsequent tweet by Pearson revealed that he was still following the personal Twitter account of Obama, and there was no timestamp or external information on the screenshoted tweet. In addition to the White House denying the claims made by Pearson, Oliver Darcy, a reporter for The Blaze, reported the incident to be false. When blocked by an account on Twitter, the blocked user can’t see the tweets of the account that blocked them, but it was seen that Pearson was still following the presidential Twitter account Obama, in contradiction to earlier claims. The screenshot provided by Pearson in support of his claim, was deemed to be an edited photo that another user posted. He was asked to comment, and stated that he “…refuse[d] to engage in conspiracy theories.”

Facebook account removal

On March 3, 2015, Facebook removed the personal account of Pearson. He then posted on social media, accusing them of quelling dissent towards former President Barack Obama. Facebook responded and stated that a person must be at least 13 to have an account on their website, a policy clearly stated in their user agreements, while he was underage. Pearson accused Facebook of “removing conservative accounts after they decide to speak up” on an interview with Fox & Friends and Fox DC.