MS NOW host claims Byron Donalds isnt true kinfolk after historic Florida gubernatorial win
MS NOW host Symone Sanders Townsend suggested Tuesday that Florida Republican Byron Donalds wasn’t true “kinfolk” with other Black Americans after acknowledging his historic victory in the state’s race for governor.Sanders Townsend questioned the political significance of Donalds’ victory, saying he would continue Gov.Ron DeSantis’ agenda.“I will say, though, you know, as they say in my community, all kinfolk ain’t skinfolk,” Sanders Townsend said, although she appeared to mean it the other way around. “And what I say and what I mean by that is Byron Donalds is making history, but he is going to continue the political direction that Ron DeSantis is going to continue in Florida.”Tim Graham, Media Research Center director of media analysis and executive editor of NewsBusters, criticized the remarks in a statement to Fox News Digital, saying Sanders Townsend was suggesting Black conservatives’ political beliefs conflicted with their racial identity.“Symone Sanders is trying to argue that Blackness and conservatism are polar opposites or that being a Black conservative is being a traitor to your race,” Graham said.
“She suggests that Gov.Ron DeSantis has been anti-Black in his policies, and so Donalds is going to continue this allegedly anti-Black agenda.”Graham compared the criticism to Democrats’ treatment of Clarence Thomas during his difficult 1991 Supreme Court confirmation hearings, when Thomas described the proceedings as a “high-tech lynching.” Graham said the underlying message demanded political conformity from Black Americans.Sanders Townsend’s comments followed Donalds’ narrow victory over Democrat David Jolly in the state.
Donalds will succeed term-limited DeSantis in a rare bright spot for Republicans Tuesday, after Democrats swept into power across the rest of the country. Sanders Townsend explicitly acknowledged the significance of Donalds’ election before turning to his policies and comparing his agenda...