Appearing on CNN Monday afternoon, a former Donald Trump administration staffer who was fired for criticizing the president went after him again following weeks of the commander in chief attacking African nations as "shitholes" and culminating with Trump going after hip-hop entrepreneur Jay-Z on Twitter.
Speaking with CNN host Brianna Keilar and CNN regular April Ryan, Shermichael Singleton was unsparing in his criticism of Trump -- but not until after Ryan got in her shots at Trump over his Jay-Z flare-up.
"We had Eminem a couple weeks ago who went in on the president," Ryan recalled. "'He [Eminem] basically drew a line in the sand and said 'if you're with him, you're not with me, don't even talk to me' to his fans -- and Trump never responded to Eminem. And that is still being played on YouTube."
"But with Jay-Z, another rapper who happens to be black, Eminem is white, Jay-Z is black, this president -- Jay-Z touched on humanity more than anything else," she continued. "He said they're beautiful people with beautiful everything. When you think about the black and brown populations -- a lot of people go by their feelings and what they think. And they talk about Tarzan movies and swinging from trees and that's not Africa."
"To April's point, why did Trump respond to Jay-Z and not Eminem," Keilar asked Singleton.
"It leads to a lot of people questioning President Trump's standing on racial issues, people of different ethnicity," the GOP consultant replied. "I can understand why people may say maybe he does have an issue with people who are not white."
"Look, as an African-American, I am proud of our community," he elaborated, growing more passionate as he spoke. "We are the product of slaves. People who were brought here from an unfamiliar place, and in spite of all those things, look at the progress we've made? So in spite of Trump's hateful rhetoric, we will continue to make progress in the right direction."
"And for those listening to his words, screw Donald Trump. We will continue to make things better," Singleton exclaimed at which point Ryan laughed and blurted, "Wow," while Keilar seemed startled.
You can watch the video below via CNN:
