African American Republican political consultant Shermichael Singleton took a sledgehammer to his own party Monday on MSNBC, blistering the Republicans for voter suppression in Georgia and other states across the US.
"As a conservative, any appearance that there is some type of restriction for African Americans or any marginalized group of people from being able to participate in the voting process does not help the Republican party," he said, clearly exasperated. "We can't afford as the country becomes more diverse to not be able to compete strategically within those communities."
Singleton told host Ali Velshi that many minority communities would in fact be fertile ground for conservative outreach, but that Republican racism prevented the party from growing.
"If you look at African Americans and Hispanics for example, traditionally, culturally, we are very conservative," he said. "But when you ask African Americans why they don't vote Republicans, they will point to the rhetoric. They will point to many of the positions of many Republicans running for office, particularly now in the age of President Donald Trump."
Singleton said that Republican voter suppression tactics had become so pernicious, he had to speak out.
"There are many things I can enjoy that perhaps my grandfather or his father could not enjoy, but I cannot be so indifferent that when these issues arise, merely because of my party affiliation, I am not to say something," he said angrily.
"It's bigger than just being a Republican, it's 'guys you should be able to compete with a very diverse group of people," he added. "Until that changes, as I said, I don't believe African-americans will vote Republican and I understand why."
He then lambasted both the state of Georgia and the president specifically for cynically using the issue of voter fraud to prevent people from exercising the franchise.
"Georgia did its own voter fraud research years ago and they found almost nothing there. The president of the United States, for example, wasted taxpayer dollars I believe a year ago and we found nothing, we found nothing," he said bitterly, adding that African American voters were particularly put off by the tactics.
Watch the video below.
