In response to Byron Donalds suggesting Black Americans were better off under Jim Crow, DNC Senior Spokesperson Marcus W. Robinson released the following statement: 

“This is Donald Trump’s MAGA Republican Party: VP contender Byron Donalds is praising Jim Crow, suggesting that Black families were better off during segregation. Let’s be clear: Jim Crow ripped apart Black families, and it’s absurd to suggest it was anything but a horrific stain on our country’s history. Trump’s MAGA veepstakes gets more extreme by the day — the American people have seen Trump’s blatant racism for years and will never allow him or his out-of-touch MAGA allies to get anywhere near the White House.”

NEW: Trump VP contender Byron Donalds suggested Black Americans were better off under Jim Crow at a Black voter outreach event in Pennsylvania.

Philadelphia Inquirer: “At another point, Donalds said he is starting to see the ‘reinvigoration of Black family,’ which he described as younger people forming nuclear family units and ‘helping to breathe the revival of a Black middle class in America.’ He went on to say that those family values had previously been eroded by Democratic policies that Black voters embraced after becoming loyal to the party due to the Civil Rights Movement.

“‘You see, during Jim Crow, the Black family was together. During Jim Crow, more Black people were not just conservative — Black people have always been conservative-minded — but more Black people voted conservatively,’ he said. ‘And then H.E.W., Lyndon Johnson — you go down that road, and now we are where we are,’ he added, referring to the former U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare.”

Trump and Republicans have scrapped minority outreach plans and shuttered community centers across the country.

NOTUS: “As the Biden campaign ramps up its efforts to shore up the Black vote, former President Donald Trump’s appeals to Black voters are still more about rhetoric than action.

“The Republican Party’s minority outreach offices in battleground states have mainly been closed since Trump’s team took over in the spring, and plans for reopening have yet to be announced…

“Trump and his allies have spoken plenty about Black voters but have yet to make heavy investments.”

Associated Press: “Five months before the first general election votes are cast, the former president’s campaign has little apparent organization to show for its ambitious plans. [Trump’s] campaign removed its point person for coalitions and has not announced a replacement. The Republican Party’s minority outreach offices across the country have been shuttered and replaced by businesses that include a check-cashing store, an ice cream shop and a sex-toy store.

“In Michigan… [the RNC] has yet to set up any community centers for minority outreach.”

“Since taking over the RNC in the spring, however, Trump’s team has dramatically scaled back such [minority outreach] efforts.”

Newsweek: “Republican Outreach Center Shuts Down, Turns into Sex Shop”

Nevada Independent: “GOP minority outreach centers in Nevada quietly shuttered after 2022 election cycle”

Copper Courier: “Republican outreach offices are still closed”

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Shuttered GOP outreach center now home to shop selling sex toys”

San Antonio Current: “Republican National Committee closes minority outreach center in San Antonio”

Connecticut Public Radio: “Will RNC reopen Black, Latino community center in CT? It’s unclear”

REMINDER: Trump’s tax handouts for the ultra-wealthy, attempts to repeal the ACA, and moves to gut affordable housing programs disproportionately left behind and threatened Black communities.

New York Times: “White Americans Gain the Most From Trump’s Tax Cuts, a Report Finds”

“As a result, the average tax cut going to a white American household is more than double one going to a black or Latino one.

“White Americans earn about 77 percent of total income in the United States, but they are getting nearly 80 percent of the benefits of the individual and business tax cuts generated by the new law, the analysis found. African Americans received about 5 percent of the benefits, despite earning 6 percent of the nation’s income.”

KFF: The number of uninsured Black Americans increased by nearly 300,000 during the first two years of Trump’s administration, which marked the first increase in the Black uninsured rate since 2013.  

New York Times: “The Tax Break for Children, Except the Ones Who Need It Most”

“While Republicans say the increase shows concern for ordinary families, 35 percent of children fail to receive the full $2,000 because their parents earn too little, researchers at Columbia University found. A quarter get a partial sum and 10 percent get nothing. Among those excluded from the full credit are half of Latinos, 53 percent of [B]lacks and 70 percent of children with single mothers…

“By enriching the credit and including the affluent, the Trump expansion itself has brought attention to the poor children it excludes. While the 2017 law made millions of upper-income families eligible for the $2,000 credit (in part to offset the loss of other tax benefits), it gave a boost of just $75 to most full-time workers at the minimum wage.”

The Hill: “Overall, Trump’s budget would cut $8.6 billion from housing programs, a 15 percent reduction. Deeper cuts, to the tune of 43 percent, would hit public housing funds while also eliminating programs such as the National Housing Trust Fund, Home Investment Partnerships, Community Development Block Grant and Choice Neighborhoods.”

Bloomberg: “The Trump administration will introduce a new rule on Monday that may reshape the way the government enforces fair housing law, making it harder for people to bring forward discrimination complaints under the Fair Housing Act.”