GOP Rep Byron Donalds Overrules Democrats on Border Crisis: ‘This Stuff Is Serious’
African American GOP Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) shot down his Democrat colleagues after they tried to twist a hearing on the border crisis to be about race.
Democrats accused Republicans of using border crisis hearing “to amplify white nationalist conspiracy theories.”
Donalds was stunned at the accusation and fired back: “My colleagues on the other side of the aisle who want to state that we’re using this hearing for white nationalism.
“I’m not doing that,” he asserted.
“So if you feel that strongly come to this side of the room and let’s talk about it face to face, only that kind of silly stuff for somebody else.
“Don’t bring that here today. This stuff is serious.”
REP. BYRON DONALDS: “For my colleagues…who wanna state that we’re using this hearing for white nationalism, I’m not doing that!…If you feel that strongly…let’s talk about it face to face.” pic.twitter.com/FbAShNAjPU
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) February 7, 2023
The Democrats on the committee said on social media: “Good morning and good luck to everyone except
“@GOPoversight members who are using today’s hearing to amplify white nationalist conspiracy theories instead of a comprehensive solution to protect our borders and strengthen our immigration system.”
Good morning and good luck to everyone except @GOPoversight members who are using today’s hearing to amplify white nationalist conspiracy theories instead of a comprehensive solution to protect our borders and strengthen our immigration system.https://t.co/V4kv8twk5a
— Oversight Committee Democrats (@OversightDems) February 7, 2023
The post linked to an article that said:
“Most of the Republican Members of the House Oversight Committee have amplified white nationalist ‘invasion’ and ‘replacement’ conspiracy theories over the last few years.
“Their rhetoric is inexorably tied to the ‘Great Replacement Theory’ and multiple domestic terrorist attacks that have claimed the lives of dozens of Americans over the last several years.
“Chairman James Comer (R-KY), pushed the racist fiction in a December interview on Fox and Friends.
“In a piece for the Daily Beast, Justin Baragona described Comer as ‘peddling the racist Great Replacement theory,’ in the interview.
“As Comer said, ‘Over the past two years, this has turned the border patrol into the welcoming committee. They want more people to roll into the United States,’ Comer said.
“They believe this is part of their social equality campaign to fundamentally change America.”
“Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who is also the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has repeatedly made explicit and implicit references to the white nationalist conspiracy.
“In a video produced by the Republican House Judiciary staff, Jordan falsy asserts, ‘The chaos on our southern border is not an accident, it’s intentional.’
“Rep. Lauren Bobert (R-CO), promoted Oversight’s first Committee hearing with the deadly conspiracy tweeting: ‘Mark your calendars. The week of Feb 6th. A @GOPoversight hearing on the invasion at our southern border. Time to get to the bottom of this mess. Buckle up!’
“Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), all but a card-carrying white nationalist, now sits on the Oversight Committee and frequently promotes the ‘invasion’ and ‘replacement’ conspiracy.
“On January 23, 2023, Gosar tweeted: ‘We shouldn’t be sending tanks to Ukraine. They belong on our southern border, where America is being invaded.’
“Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) said, ‘For many Americans, what seems to be happening or what they believe right now is happening is, what appears to them is we’re replacing national-born Americans, native-born Americans to permanently transform the landscape of this very nation,’ in an April 15, 2021, House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing.
“Why this matters: This invasion and replacement conspiracy has repeatedly been the motivating inspiration for repeated acts of political violence and domestic terrorism.
“It was chanted in the streets of Charlottesville in 2017, posted online before a man murdered 11 in Pittsburgh in 2018, shared in racist screeds before the murder in Poway and the murder of 23 in El Paso in 2019, believed by those who attacked the Capitol in 2021, and copied by the gunman who killed ten people in Buffalo in May of this year.
“While many of the Republicans, including those in the House Oversight Committee, have adopted rhetoric and versions of the ‘Great Replacement Theory’ that are slightly less explicitly racist and anti-Semitic, their rhetoric furthers the same sort of dehumanization that paints non-white migrants as an existential threat.
“Dr. Heidi Beirich, Co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, an expert on extremism, provided context on the messaging adopted by GOP leaders: ‘The ‘Great Replacement’ is one of the most dangerous white supremacist conspiracy theories that exists today.’
“This lie has inspired mass murders around the world, including last year’s shooting in Buffalo, and also influences discriminatory and inhumane immigration policies.
“It’s incredibly irresponsible and dangerous for politicians and right-wing media to give a platform to these racist and anti-immigrant ideas that have propelled disastrous immigration policies.”
.@ByronDonalds: “There was somebody who became President of the United States in…2021…Do you believe these policy changes actually led to these drastic increases?”
CHIEF MODLIN: “They [migrants] believed that when the administration changed..there was an open border.” pic.twitter.com/8iGaglUKPt
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) February 7, 2023
