Rep. Donalds Accuses Democrats of Misrepresenting His Words on Jim Crow as Lies

Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., who is reportedly on former President Donald Trump’s shortlist for a running mate, responded to Democrats on Wednesday, accusing them of distorting his comments about Black families in the Jim Crow era.

“America, Joe Biden’s campaign is lying to you once again and gaslighting,” Donalds said Wednesday in a video posted on X. “Now 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? Because they always lie. This is the same Joe Biden that said if you don’t vote for him, then you ain’t Black. The man is a liar.”

Following Donalds’ comments, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) called on him to apologize, along with the campaign of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and other Democrats who criticized him for implying that Black families were better off during Jim Crow.

The Biden-Harris HQ account on X posted, “Trump VP contender Byron Donalds claims life was better for Black Americans ‘during Jim Crow,'” with a video of Donalds explaining his point.

Jeffries also criticized Donalds in a post on X, calling his observation ignorant.

The Hill reported that the CBC stated Donalds knows that Black people were not better off during the Jim Crow era.

Donalds clarified that his comments referred to a burgeoning middle class among Black families in the past 10 years, not that they were better off under Jim Crow laws. He criticized the welfare state created by Democrats and President Lyndon Johnson in the 1960s for damaging the Black family.

“What I said was that it was Democrat policies under HEW, under the welfare state that did help to destroy the Black family,” Donalds said in the video. “That’s what I said. And I also said you’ve seen a reinvigoration of Black families today in America.”

In a video he posted on X, Donalds discussed the cultural and political shift regarding the invigoration of Black families and the revival of a Black middle class in America.

Newsmax reached out to the Congressional Black Caucus, the Biden-Harris campaign, and Jeffries for comment.