GOP congressman claims Trump isn't racist because Biden is a 'white man'

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) on Thursday responded to criticism of Donald Trump’s racism by pointing out that “Joe Biden is a white man.” Donalds went on to chide Democrats for talking about Trump’s incitement of white supremacists, alleging that Democrats do so to “weaponize their arguments.”

His comments were made during an appearance on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” to discuss Trump’s second impeachment, this time for inciting the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

After Fox host Ainsley Earhardt showed a montage of Democratic representatives assailing Trump’s connections to white supremacists, Donalds said that the Democratic rhetoric was “outrageous” and “awful.”

“First of all, Joe Biden is a white man,” Donalds added. “The President-elect is a white man himself, so, I don’t even understand what this whole line is coming from about white supremacy and so on and so forth.”

Donalds said some Black and Hispanic voters backed Trump in the 2020 election, “So I think that this line is something the left always does, they always try to bring race into something in order to weaponize their arguments.”

He said the reason Democrats invoke white supremacy is “to make people just frankly be quiet, to shut up and to sit down.”

But contrary to Donalds’ claims, Trump has consistently surrounded himself with people who have expressed white supremacist ideals and supported related policies, which showed up in the Trump administration.

Trump’s 2016 campaign chairman Stephen Bannon ran the white supremacist site Breitbart, which he bragged was a “platform” for the racist “alt-right” movement. After Trump won, he made Bannon a senior political advisor.

Similarly, top Trump adviser Stephen Miller promoted white supremacist causes and policies relating to immigration before he came to the White House, which he has continued to do in the Trump administration.

Trump himself has a long history of promoting racism, including his repeated use of anti-Asian language in reference to the COVID-19 outbreak.

His policies and rhetoric have led to a following for Trump amongst white supremacists, including organizations like the “Proud Boys,” who were a part of the attack on the Capitol.

From the Jan. 14 edition of Fox News’ “Fox & Friends”:

AINSLEY EARHARDT, Fox News: Congressman, what’s your reaction?

 

BYRON DONALDS: I thought the language was outrageous, I thought it was awful. First of all, Joe Biden is a white man. You know, for America, it needs to understand this. The president-elect is a white man himself, so I don’t even understand what this whole line is coming from about white supremacy and so on and so forth.

 

The second thing is this: That you had Black Americans and you had Hispanic Americans who voted for Donald Trump, who support Donald Trump as well. So I think that this line is something the left always does; they always try to bring race into something in order to weaponize their arguments, to make people just frankly be quiet, to shut up, and to sit down.

 

But it was wrong, flat-out wrong, for the members on the other side of the aisle to use that.

 

What happened in the Capitol last week was wrong. It was a tragedy for our country. It was in some respects, yes, an insurrection, but to use white supremacy in it’s language is also equally as wrong. And it’s time that we as elected officials start using all of our languages holding ourselves accountable for the words that we’re using here in the United States.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.