U.S. Representative Byron Donalds (R-FL), who is considered a potential VP pick for the presumptive GOP presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump, was a guest on Al Sharpton‘s MSNBC show PoliticsNation on Saturday.
Sharpton grilled Donalds (a native New Yorker who won a non-Black district in the South and has an interracial marriage) for his recent comments regarding the race-based Jim Crow laws.
Sharpton asked the Republican congressman: “How can you even live with yourself, acting like Jim Crow was a good era or a better era for Blacks?”
“How can you even live with yourself acting like Jim Crow was a good era or a better era for Blacks? What happened to you?”@TheRevAl pressed Rep. Byron Donalds, a reported front-runner for Trump’s running mate, on his recent comments glorifying the Jim Crow era. pic.twitter.com/B9STEEPhYu
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) June 9, 2024
[Note: While campaigning for Trump last week, Donalds said: “…During Jim Crow, the Black family was together. During Jim Crow, more Black people were not just conservatives, Black people have always been conservatively minded, but more Black people voted conservatively.”]
Donalds replied: “Okay, that’s real cute. That’s real cute. I did not say that.” Donalds added: “Right now you’re lying about what I said.” (Below is the video.)
.@JoeBiden @RepJeffries @harrisonjaime & @DerrickNAACP are gaslighting Black America.
I was talking about Black families, conservative mindsets, and conservative voting.
Receipts are a beautiful thing! And don’t clip my words to keep lying. I’m watching pic.twitter.com/W2Fr5uAHE8
— Byron Donalds (@ByronDonalds) June 5, 2024
Donalds and Sharpton disagree and talk over each other. Donalds is heard saying, “I’m not gonna sit here and be lied on.” He added, “Everybody is lying.”