The stench of hypocrisy was thick in the House chamber this week as a group of Republicans, days into a contentious vote for the next speaker, offered their support for a relatively unknown ultra-conservative Black congressman from Florida. Meanwhile, a Democratic superstar congressman from New York, who also happens to be Black, decidedly won the most votes, again and again—embarrassing the establishment and proving just how much of a badass Hakeem Jeffries is.
Haven’t we seen this before? It was just a few months back when, out of nowhere, came a well-known NFL player without an iota of political experience or common sense, thrown into the ring against a seasoned incumbent senator in Georgia. Why? Because he was also Black. Do they think we’re all the same? Just replace one Black person with any other; we’ll never know!
So forgive me for bristling when a bunch of white conservatives throw out the name of Rep. Byron Donalds, the self-described “Trump-supporting, gun-owning, liberty-loving, pro-life, politically incorrect Black man,” and then give themselves a pat on the back for being “diverse.”
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If you haven’t heard of Donalds, you’re not alone. It was Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas who first nominated him Tuesday.
“For the first time in history, there have been two Black Americans placed into the nomination for speaker of the House,” Roy said to the cheering House. “We do not seek to judge people by the color of their skin, but the content of their character,” he added, quoting civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech to a second raucous round of applause.
“Byron Donalds is a good man, raised by a single mom, moved past diversity, became a Christian man at the age of 21, and has devoted his life to advancing the cause for his family and this country. And he has done it admirably,” Roy said.
Really?
Are we really going to now pretend that the Republican Party supports diversity—particularly those who’ve licked every inch of former President Donald “No one loves Black people more than me” Trump’s boots?
Let’s not forget that Trump led the Republican Party with policies that put immigrant kids in cages, limited diversity and inclusion training in federal agencies, and falsely claimed that public school students were being “fed lies about America being a wicked nation plagued by racism,” all while presiding over what could only be described as a creamy white Cabinet and administration.
But I digress. Let’s dig into who Donalds is—aside from the man some members of the GOP want to be their speaker.
Donalds, 44, who voted for Rep. Kevin McCarthy on the first two ballots Tuesday, lives in Naples, Florida, with his wife and three sons.
He was arrested at 18 for selling marijuana, and three years later, arrested and charged with bribery—a charge that was expunged, The Washington Post reports.
He’s attributed his misdeeds to childish antics.
“I can’t undo my mistakes,” Donalds said. “The only thing I can do is show and become the man that I am today for my family and the community that I love.”
His first foray into politics was an appointment by former Gov. Rick Scott to the board of trustees of a state college. He ran for a congressional seat in 2012, but lost.
In 2016, he was elected to the Florida House of Representatives, and in 2020 he won his nine-way GOP primary by just over 700 votes, according to The Hill.
Oh, and by the way, Donalds was one of 147 Republicans who voted to reject the results of the 2020 presidential election and does not believe that Trump had anything to do with the insurrection on Jan.6, per an interview he gave to The New York Times in 2021.
Also in 2021, Donalds expressed interest in joining the Congressional Black Caucus—a historically Democratic caucus that has occasionally included Republican members—but membership was never offered to him, BuzzFeed News reported. “If my positions and my support of President Trump is a problem for them, let them state that on the record,” Donalds said.
Apparently, other Black members of the House are also objecting to Donalds.
Democratic Rep. Cori Bush tweeted that Donalds' nomination was not historic, but simply a “prop”—and it was “pathetic.”
“Despite being Black, he supports a policy agenda intent on upholding and perpetuating white supremacy.”
Donalds responded to Bush’s tweet by calling her a “crab in a barrel.”
