Republican Florida Rep. Byron Donalds doubled down on his remarks about the Jim Crow era following massive backlash from left-wing pundits and Democrats.
Donalds said black families voted more conservatively and remained in a family unit during the Jim Crow era, making the point that former President Lyndon Johnson’s policies following the Civil Rights movement led to the disintegration of the nuclear family in the black community.
“One of the things that’s actually happening in our culture, which you’re now starting to see in our politics, is the reinvigoration of black families with younger black men and black women … during Jim Crow, the family was together. 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 during an event in Philadelphia.
Bryon Donalds Doubles Down On Jim Crow Remark Following Left-Wing Backlash pic.twitter.com/z5Dql0RUys
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) June 7, 2024
Liberals, most notably MSNBC host Joy Reid, accused Donalds of saying life was better for black people during the Jim Crow era — an accusation which Donalds has refuted. (RELATED: ‘It’s My Show’: Joy Reid Spirals After Marathon Rant As Byron Donalds Attempts To Answer Her Question)
“First of all, what we were talking about in Philadelphia a few days ago was the importance of black families and united black families and growing black families in the United States. That’s very important,” Donalds told “America’s Newsroom” host Bill Hemmer. “The empirical fact is that Lyndon Johnson’s policies, The Great Society and other issues led to a massive decline in marriage rate in black America. That is an empirical fact, and the Democrats want to create, and this is a creation on their part, is that because I said Jim Crow, they think I’m talking about some golden era.”
“What’s important here in this entire phony controversy is that Joe Biden, his campaign, Democrat leadership and the terrible press want to make an issue, they want to gaslight people in this country and make black people think in America that Republicans think of Jim Crow as it was some great time in American history. That is not true. They are gaslighting, they’re lying.”
The congressman said he would “not be intimidated” as Democrats allegedly “gaslight” and “lie” to the black community about Republicans to prevent them from supporting the party.
Donalds sparred with Reid on MSNBC Thursday as she accused him of framing the Jim Crow era as a “golden” time in American history. He pushed back against her by saying he is “grateful” for the progress made in America since that time while calling out the lack of fatherhood in the community caused by The Great Society’s policies.
“But like I said, they don’t want to be technical. They want to gaslight, they want to twist, they want to lie,” Donalds said about Democrats’ criticisms. “So I’m not gonna let them get away with that. I’m gonna stand up to it and I’m gonna stand firm with what I said because if you’re gonna talk about families, family structure and dads being at homes with their wives, with their kids, is good for black America and it’s good for all America.”
Former President Donald Trump has earned a substantial amount of support among black voters ahead of the 2024 election, while support for President Joe Biden has fallen to historic lows not seen for a Democratic candidate since the Civil Rights era. Biden is leading Trump among black voters 70% to 18%, respectively, in six battleground states, as well as by 47% to 42% among Hispanic voters, according to a New York Times/Sienna College poll.
