On Tuesday, Florida Rep. Byron Donalds attended a Black Americans for Trump gathering where he stated that “during Jim Crow, the Black family was together” and that former President Lyndon Johnson, along with the welfare system, ruined family values.
“During Jim Crow, more Black people were not just conservative — Black people have always been conservative-minded — but more Black people voted conservatively,” he said.
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Leave it to Joy Reid to drag Donalds for filth over his comments.
When Reid attempted to hold Donalds accountable for his disturbing remarks, he insisted his words were misconstrued. “I never said that it was better for Black people in Jim Crow,” Donalds stated on “The ReidOut” on Thursday night.
“This is where the gaslighting comes in...Part of that is when you’re raising families, raising kids, et cetera, you’re thinking of all the public policy issues, all of the economic issues, and it’s leading people to have divergence in political thoughts...The stuff that comes up about Jim Crow and twisting my words saying I was being nostalgic or Jim Crow was good for Black people, that’s all political spin. It’s a lie.”
However, Reid wasn’t having it: “The poverty rate during Jim Crow was 55.1 percent. More than half of families were impoverished. You also said, during Jim Crow, more Black people were not just conservative, Black people have always been conservative-minded but Black people voted conservatively. Black people weren’t allowed to vote at all during Jim Crow.”
The biggest “gotcha!” moment was when Reid pointed out that Donalds has a white wife — a union that would have been illegal during Jim Crow. “During Jim Crow, could your family have existed?” Reid asked. “You are in an interracial marriage. Your wife, and a white conservative activist. Could your family have existed at all during Jim Crow?”
“No, it could not, and we all know that,” said Donalds. “That’s why I’m blessed to live in America today, as opposed to America during that time. But we cannot ignore the realities of not having fathers in homes. That is important to our Black people today and all people today as we move forward toward a better America.”
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