An incensed Florida Republican took issue Wednesday with backlash to his word-for-word quote implying that Black folks were better off under Jim Crow, accusing Democrats of lying to the American people following rebuke from the House Minority Leader that the comments were "outrageous, outlandish and out of pocket."
Reps. Byron Donalds (R-FL) and Wesley Hunt (R-TX) made their case to supporters in Philadelphia this week that living under Jim Crow was better for them. The event was part of the campaign's “Black Americans for Trump” initiative.
“You see, during Jim Crow, the Black 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,” Donalds said, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
“And then H.E.W., Lyndon Johnson — you go down that road, and now we are where we are,” he added, referring to the former U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of Brooklyn took the floor to call the remark an "outlandish, outrageous and out of pocket observation."
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"When a young boy named Emmett Till could be brutally murdered without consequence because of Jim Crow, we were not better off," Jeffries said. "When Black women could be sexually assaulted without consequence because of Jim Crow, we were not better off. When people could be systematically lynched without consequence because of Jim Crow, we were not better off."
Jeffries finished the fiery speech saying: "How dare you make such an ignorant observation? You better check yourself, before you wreck yourself."
Marcus W. Robinson, senior spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee, told media outlets in a statement that the comments represent "Donald Trump's MAGA Republican Party: VP contender Byron Donalds is praising Jim Crow, suggesting that Black families were better off during segregation."
Robinson added: "Let's be clear: Jim Crow ripped apart Black families, and it's absurd to suggest it was anything but a horrific stain on our country's history."
In a video posted to Donalds' X account Wednesday afternoon, the Florida congressman attempted to refute the word-for-word quote by accusing Joe Biden's re-election campaign of "lying to" and "gaslighting" the American people.
"They're trying to say that I said, 'Black people were doing better under Jim Crow.' I never said that. They are lying. But why would you be surprised? They always lie."
Donalds later added: "What I said was, you had more Black families under Jim Crow, and it was the Democrat policies under H.E.W., under the welfare state that did help to destroy the Black family."