Byron Donalds Is Exposing Progressives' Hypocrisy on Race | Opinion

It was only a matter of time before the kerfuffle over the House Speakership would be made into a racial issue. After all, in today's political climate, it's nearly impossible to discuss any issue without identity—racial or sexual—becoming a focal point. And this week's banner story, in which California Congressman Kevin McCarthy has failed (and failed and failed) to be elected Speaker of the House, is no different.

McCarthy has been stymied by members of the House Republican Freedom Caucus, who first nominated Rep. Jim Jordan to oppose McCarthy, and then switched to Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), a Black Republican.

Donalds' nomination was historic in that this is the first time a Black man was put forth to compete for the Speaker's gavel, let alone two Black men; Democrats on their side are unanimously backing Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) as the party's new leader. Rep. Chip Roy, who nominated Donalds, mentioned this historic fact in his nomination speech, noting that "for the first time in history, there have been two black Americans" placed into the nomination procedure for speaker.

But not everyone was as excited by Congress making history. In response, Missouri Congresswoman Cori Bush went full Al Sharpton, casting her opponents as foaming-at-the-mouth racists and calling Donalds a "prop" who "supports a policy agenda intent on upholding and perpetuating white supremacy."

Bush appropriately received a torrent of criticism coming from conservatives over her mean girl tweet. Many pointed out the blatant hypocrisy of leftists who criticize the Republican Party for its lack of diversity while also using this type of rhetoric when the GOP puts a Black person in a position of prominence.

And during an appearance on Fox News, Donalds himself fired back, calling Bush's comments "outrageous" and arguing that if she sees "a Black man rising," she should "let them rise even if you don't agree with [his] policies."

"As a Black man to a Black woman, I'd never do that to you," he added on Twitter.

Bush's comments are nothing new. In fact, Democrats have trotted out the "prop" and "token" tropes whenever a Black person rises through the ranks of the GOP.

Yet while both parties have tokenized Blacks and people from other demographics, Democrats are truly the masters at tokenization. Vice President Kamala Harris and Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson are prime examples. President Joe Biden explicitly said he wished to have a Black female running mate and planned to appoint a black female Supreme Court justice before proceeding with their nominations.

This hasn't stopped folks like Bush from liberally applying the smear of token or prop to virtually every Black leader on the Right, accusing them of perpetuating racism and white supremacy. Progressives contend that Right-wing Black Americans are being exploited as a tool to promote an anti-Black agenda.

As a Right-leaning Black man, you can imagine how offensive I find that. The fact that Bush is willing to pretend that Donalds is a traitor to the Black community and pushing a white supremacist agenda speaks to the fact that people like her lack the ability to debate on the issues. When they are left unable to mount rational arguments, they resort to these political parlor tricks to discredit their opposition.

The truth is that both parties have used Black people as "props," you never see people like Rep. Bush call out this tendency on the Left. The reason why is obvious: She is a hyper-partisan hypocrite.

Which is why in an interview with the Huffington Post, Bush doubled down on her remarks. "My issue is not with Byron Donalds himself," Bush said. "My issue is not with him being Black. My issue is not with him being Republican. My issue is because he was not someone that they have been promoting for the last two years."

Bush is either lying or has no idea what she is talking about. If I'm being charitable, I could chalk this up to the fact that she doesn't converse much with people on the other side. If she had, she would know that Rep. Donalds is well-loved among the conservative base—not just because he's Black, but because he is in alignment with conservatives on policy and ideology. Despite only being in his first term, he is serving on three Congressional committees.

Unfortunately, rhetoric like Bush's has become so normalized on the Left that it's second nature to progressives when faced with a Black person who espouses differing political beliefs.

But to be fair, what else can they do when they have the worst ideas?

Jeff Charles is the host of "A Fresh Perspective" podcast and a contributor for RedState and Liberty Nation.

The views in this article are the writer's own.