MSNBC analyst and member of The New York Times Editorial Board Mara Gay hammered the Republican Party and former President Donald Trump over race Tuesday.
Gay appeared on “Morning Joe” and explained to host Joe Scarborough that Trump is to blame for the “disgusting and grotesque outpouring of open racism” from the Republican Party. She claimed the party is “desperate” and the approach that’s the “lowest hanging fruit” for them is “when all else fails, blame black people.” (RELATED: ‘There’s Nothing Subconscious About This Racism’: Joe Scarborough Says Sen. Ron Johnson Wants Supporters To ‘Know He’s A Bigot’)
Scarborough began by talking to Gay about Republican Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson’s comments from a March 11 interview that he would have been “more concerned” if the people who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 were Black Lives Matter or antifa. He claimed the comments were “overt” racism, he believes Johnson “knew it was racist,” and that Johnson “wanted his listeners to know he was racist.”
“We have Donald Trump to thank for this wonderfully disgusting and grotesque outpouring of open racism, the likes of which we really haven’t seen in this country … since the 1950s, if not the 1920s, before that. So we do have Donald Trump to thank for that. And Trumpism,” Gay responded.
She went on to say she thinks Johnson “knew exactly what he was saying,” and that being a black American means sometimes you’re “gaslit by the rest of the country.” She said black people are told “you aren’t seeing what’s right in front of your face” and “despite the fact that your people have been oppressed for generations … you are the threat.” She added that even though “a white mob” attacked the Capitol, black people are still the threat because they are black.
“Whenever in the course of American history you have petty, lazy, small, small-minded politicians who don’t want to show real leadership, or build real coalitions, or offer real solutions to the American people, whenever they are desperate for power, they turn to racism,” she concluded. “So this is really a sign, in my opinion, of the desperation of the Republican Party in this moment. This is really the easiest, lowest-hanging fruit. When all else fails, blame black people. And that’s what this is about.”
Johnson responded Monday to the criticism of his comments, saying that there was “nothing racial” about them and that “the left is happy to use the race card whenever they can.”
Gay is no stranger to criticism over race. In March 2020 she claimed a “racist Twitter mob” attacked her over “a trivial math mistake” she made on-air while appearing on MSNBC’s “11th Hour.” She claimed in the appearance, alongside host Brian Williams, that former Independent New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg could have given every American $1 million with the amount of money he spent on his failed presidential campaign. The actual number was $1.53 per person.