Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
Black Democratic politicians who flip parties after they are elected and join the MAGA Republicans are betraying their voters in a cynical, power-hungry and hazardous game of bait-and-switch. These dangerous political games come at an equally hazardous time for Black people, precisely when the Republican Party is the most racist and hostile it has ever been to Black lives and aspirations.
The most recent example of this phenomenon is Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, who, after successfully winning a second term, announced his switch to the GOP. Borrowing from the time-tested trope of urban crime, Johnson claimed Democratic policies have made crime and homelessness worse, and “lawless” cities need Republican leadership. Johnson — who may have tipped his hand by enjoying financial support from the white conservative business elite and having Clarence Thomas’ billionaire donor Harlan Crow on his steering committee — invited Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz to the inauguration, with Cornyn swearing Johnson in a few months before the party switch.
After declaring himself a Republican, the Dallas mayor met with then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and more recently with Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., who apparently believes “America is not a racist country” — except when white donors get into his personal life and specifically ask about his marital status. All of this comes in the midst of a highly corrupt Texas Republican Party protecting a most corrupt Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Wanting their refund, Democrats have accused Johnson of defrauding Dallas voters and called on Johnson to resign and have waged a campaign to recall him. “On the surface folks may think this is simply Democrats v….
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