Byron Donalds Reacts to MSNBC Host Calling Him ‘Fake Proof’
May 26, 2024
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Representative Byron Donalds, a Florida Republican, responded on Sunday to MSNBC host Joy Reid’s allegation that he is “fake proof that Black people, the Blacks, are just MAGA.” The congressman described Reid’s remarks as “nothing more than crabs in a barrel.”
Donalds, an ally of Donald Trump and a potential vice president candidate on the former president’s 2024 ticket, spoke at Trump’s campaign rally on Thursday in the South Bronx, New York.
On a Friday segment of MSNBC’s The ReidOut, Reid said Donalds was being used as a prop by the Republican Party in reference to his recent appearance at the Bronx rally. She said Donalds is “the one Black guy that Republicans love to roll out as fake proof that Black people, the Blacks, are just MAGA, they’re MAGA–it’s a joke.”
MAGA—an acronym for Make America Great Again, the slogan used by Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign—has been used to describe devoted supporters of the former president.
In an interview on Fox News Sunday, Fox News host Shannon Bream asked Donalds how he viewed Reid’s statement and whether she was making a comment about Republicans or him specifically.
The congressman described Reid’s comments as “nothing more than crabs in a barrel,” a metaphor highlighting how people can hinder other’s progress out of envy, jealousy, or spite.
“Just because I have a different viewpoint, a different way of looking at the world, different politics, now all of a sudden I’m being used?” he asked. “You could make an argument that MSNBC is using her.”
Donalds added: “The rally in the Bronx was amazing. You had a very diverse crowd, people from the Bronx, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Black people, white people, all there supporting President Trump. They want Donald Trump back.”
Newsweek reached out to Donalds’ communications director and MSNBC for comment via email on Sunday.
Representative Byron Donalds, a Florida Republican, speaks outside the Manhattan Criminal Court on May 14. Donalds responded on Sunday to MSNBC host Joy Reid’s allegation that he is “fake proof that Black people, the Blacks,… Representative Byron Donalds, a Florida Republican, speaks outside the Manhattan Criminal Court on May 14. Donalds responded on Sunday to MSNBC host Joy Reid’s allegation that he is “fake proof that Black people, the Blacks, are just MAGA.” The congressman described Reid’s remarks as “nothing more than crabs in a barrel.”
ALEX KENT/AFP via Getty Images
Black voters remain overwhelmingly Democratic, and according to April data published by the Pew Research Center, 77 percent of Black registered voters say they would vote for or lean toward voting for President Joe Biden in this year’s election.
In the 2020 election, the former president won 16 percent of the vote in the Bronx, whereas Biden won upwards of 80 percent, according to the Associated Press. However, Biden has been losing his margin over Trump in the demographic and the region as he’s currently down 20 points in New York City, according to a Siena College May poll.
Meanwhile, the size of Trump’s Thursday rally crowd is under debate, with conflicting accounts citing different numbers. The rally had a permit for 3,500 people, according to The New York Times, which cited the New York Police Department (NYPD). However, some estimate many more people attended the event.
Steven Cheung, a Trump’s spokesperson, previously told Newsweek in an email that 25,000 people attended the rally.
The South Bronx is predominantly Hispanic at 64 percent and Black at 31 percent, according to a 2023 report by the New York State Comptroller’s Office, and is a region of the Bronx borough that typically votes overwhelmingly for Democrats.
Donalds said on Sunday that unlike Reid and Biden, Trump is working on “expanding the political map, not shrinking it based upon race or anything else. His focus is on all of America.”
The 2024 presidential election remains extremely tight, with FiveThirtyEight’s most recent national aggregation poll showing Trump leading Biden by 1.5 percentage points (41.4 to 39.9 percent).
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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