Critics are blasting Senator Tim Scott, R- S.C., and four other Black Republicans in Congress after unveiling a new video series aimed at persuading Black voters to support embattled former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
Scott, a former Republican presidential candidate and potential vice presidential running mate to Trump, joined U.S. Reps. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, Burgess Owens, R-Utah, and John James, R-Mich., in the debut series, “America’s Starting Five,” on Friday. In the first installment, the five Black Republicans criticized President Joe Biden for his past controversial remarks.
Democratic strategist Ameshia Cross believes the five Black male Republican lawmakers coming together for the series is a “very concerted effort to make it appear that Black males are moving more toward conservatism and towards Trumpism, even though that’s not the case.”
Cross told theGrio, “It wasn’t the case in 2020, it wasn’t the case in 2016, and it will not be the case in 2024.”
Markus Batchelor, national political director at People For the American Way, said that while Black voters are not a monolith, “It’s insulting having it come from a panel of Black elected leaders who have spent their entire political careers aligning with the far-right.”
Batchelor told theGrio that the Republican members of Congress have spent their time in office undermining critical issues like “voting rights, fair courts, racial equity, reproductive freedom, public schools, and fair housing.”
During the series, the “Starting Five” aired a snippet of the viral exchange between “The Breakfast Club” host Charlamagne tha God and then-presidential candidate Biden. During the 2020 interview, Biden said, “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t Black.”
“Non-Black, Black people … we ain’t Black enough for Joe Biden,” Senator Scott…
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