In a new post on X (formerly known as Twitter), Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) tore into Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) for recent comments about the lives of Black Americans in the Jim Crow era.
“You see, during Jim Crow, the Black family was together. During Jim Crow, more Black people were not just conservative — Black people have always been conservative-minded — but more people voted conservatively,” Donalds reportedly said, according to The Hill. Donalds is known as an ally to Trump, having prominently supported him during the ex-president’s recent criminal trial in New York City, among other contexts.
“I grew up in the Jim Crow era. I went to school in the Jim Crow era. I traveled in the Jim Crow era,” the Texas Congresswoman replied. “I know what life was like under Jim Crow. For one of my colleagues to say life is worse now than under Jim Crow is absolutely absurd and unconscionable.”
Donalds was also condemned by top Democrat Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), the House Minority Leader, characterizing the stance as “outrageous” and “outlandish” in comments on the House floor. Donalds had spoken at a campaign event in the swing state Pennsylvania.
Even the Biden campaign derisively highlighted the comments from Donalds, characterizing the Florida Republican as a contender for the spot of Trump’s vice presidential pick in the elections this year.
Donalds responded by claiming in a video that Democrats were misrepresenting his actual comments, insisting he simply asserted there were “more Black families” under Jim Crow. Democrats appeared to be seizing on an assumption that claiming there were “more Black families” implied a positive outlook.
Others thought to be a contender for Trump’s pick as running mate include GOP Senators like South Carolina’s Tim Scott… who was recently refusing in an interview to commit to accepting the 2024 presidential election results no matter who’s the winner.
