On the anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, Donald Trump’s VP contenders are continuing to defend his racist rhetoric and push his dangerous MAGA agenda that would hurt Black communities. In response, DNC Senior Spokesperson Marcus W. Robinson released the following statement: 

“On this anniversary of the signing of the landmark Civil Rights Act, the best that Donald Trump’s VP contenders can do is make excuses for Trump’s racist rhetoric while lying about President Biden and Vice President Harris’ record. Trump’s MAGA Veepstakes contenders have defended Jim Crow, backed a tax giveaway for the rich at the expense of working- and middle-class Black families, and stood behind Trump while he talks about ‘Black jobs’ and repeats the same racist vitriol. While Trump and his MAGA lackeys insult Black Americans after failing our community every year while he was in office, the Biden-Harris administration has put the fight for equality front and center since day one, standing up for voting rights, fighting for greater economic opportunity, and working to fulfill the promise of equality for all Black Americans.”

Donald Trump’s VP contenders stood by him after his racist, insulting reference to “Black jobs” and “Hispanic jobs.”

TIME: “Trump’s Debate References to ‘Black Jobs’ and ‘Hispanic Jobs’ Stir Anger”

“Donald Trump warned during his debate with Joe Biden and again at a Friday rally that migrants were taking ‘Black jobs’ and ‘Hispanic jobs’ from Americans, angering critics who called it a racist and insulting attempt to expand his appeal beyond his white conservative base.

[…]

“Asked to clarify what Trump meant in describing a ‘Black job’ during an interview with NBC News, Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who is Black and is under consideration to be Trump’s vice presidential nominee, sidestepped the question, instead discussing homeless veterans.”

USA Today: “Carson told CNN Friday that the former president was referring to ‘people at the lower end of the economic scale, and that those frequently unskilled jobs are taken by people who come in here illegally, making them unavailable for our people.’

[…]

“Carson also dismissed concerns that Trump’s remarks came off as offensive. ‘What we really have to do is start not picking apart what people say but actually asking what is the meaning of what they’re saying,’ he said.”

Byron Donalds and Wesley Hunt are trying and failing to convince Black voters to vote for Trump…

NBC News: “Trump’s Black GOP allies challenged during tense discussion tailored to Black men”

“Several repeatedly challenged Donalds and Hunt over their legislative track record, their stances on immigration and reparations, and their unwavering support for Trump. The dialogue at times got contentious, with several audience members accusing them at various times of repeating generic Republican talking points or deflecting issues of concern.

[…]

“Donalds was also called out for a controversial remark he made during the Philadelphia stop of the ‘Congress, cognac and cigars’ tour, when he asserted the Black family was stronger during Jim Crow.

“‘You can talk about Black family, talk about the Black father, but when you intertwine Jim Crow into that, you’re going to drive people away,’ Richard Wright said Wednesday.

[…]

“The response did little to quell the palpable frustration among some attendees. Mike M., who declined to give his last name, is a graduate of Emory University and does not affiliate with a specific party. He forcefully pointed out that Donalds himself made the remark and ‘was trying to blame everyone else.’

“‘You don’t need to invoke Jim Crow to make your point,’ he said.” 

Washington Post: “Donalds and Hunt, serving as messengers for the Republican Party and Trump campaign surrogates, were faced with uncomfortable conversations from a largely Black audience with complex ideologies.

[…]

“The event closed out with Donalds taking heat from some attendees over his comment at a gathering earlier this month in Philadelphia that fewer Black families were fractured during the Jim Crow era.”

Washington Examiner: “Byron Donalds defends Trump’s comments about black voters”

…and Donalds recently tripled down on his suggestion that Black Americans were better off under Jim Crow.

New York Times: “Byron Donalds, Trump V.P. Contender, Suggests Jim Crow Era Had an Upside”

The New Republic: “Byron Donalds Cannot Stop Praising the Jim Crow Era”

NBC News: “Rep. Byron Donalds defends comments about Jim Crow”

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’s VP contenders have praised his MAGAnomics tax scam and supported Trump’s push to make it permanent…

Tim Scott: “We make the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act tax cuts permanent.”

Doug Burgum: “I believe in these economic policies, I believe the tax bill is a great thing.”

Marco Rubio: “Overall, the Republican tax-cut bill has been good for Americans. That is why I voted for it.”

Tom Cotton: “Trump’s tax cuts helped deliver the strongest economy in recent history.”

CNBC: “Ben Carson leads prayer for tax cuts at Trump Cabinet meeting”

KOTA: “Republicans are calling President Trump’s tax plan the biggest tax overhaul in history. … Representative Kris[ti] Noem was a big part in pushing this bill.”

Fox Business: “Trump’s tax policies have worked out for all of America: Rep. Byron Donalds”

Vivek Ramaswamy on a suggestion to make permanent or expand the Trump tax cuts: “I’d go a little further, Larry, than that, to be honest with you.”

Alabama Political Reporter: “Katie Britt on Monday released a memo with her policy positions … [including] a bill to make permanent the individual tax cuts and extend the expanded standard deduction contained in President Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. … a pro-growth tax reform bill reducing business tax rates, repealing the Death Tax, and making the expensing of capital assets permanent. … a bill to repeal the state and local tax deduction.”

Wesley Hunt: “I supported the 2017 Tax Reform bill.”

… even though Trump’s tax giveaways for the ultra-wealthy, attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and pushes to gut affordable housing programs disproportionately left behind and threatened working- and middle-class 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.”

Trump worked with VP contender Tim Scott on an Opportunity Zones initiative that gave tax breaks to wealthy real estate developers while largely leaving out to dry the small businesses and low-income communities it was “supposed” to help. 

PBS Newshour: “Trump-era Opportunity Zones meant to help low-income communities exploited by investors” 

New York Times: “A Trump Tax Break Is Not Spurring Job Creation, Study Finds”

“A new tax break that President Trump frequently touts as a boon to black Americans and hard-hit communities is spurring relatively little job creation while disproportionately helping high-profit real estate projects and not small businesses, an extensive new study by the Urban Institute has found.”

Forbes: “Trump Tax Cuts Helped Billionaires Pay Less Taxes Than The Working Class In 2018”

The Guardian: “Donald Trump’s $1.5tn tax cuts have helped billionaires pay a lower rate than the working class for the first time in history.”