All posts tagged "byron donalds"

'Awkward': Undercover operative says Byron Donalds speech got 'tepid golf claps'

Florida Representative Byron Donalds, a MAGA Republican who was rumored to be on Donald Trump's list for potential vice presidential picks before JD Vance was selected, reportedly crashed and burned at a conservative event.

A former Republican strategist went to his old stomping grounds to give an inside look at how the GOP is reaching out to Latino voters, but what he found was two conservative worlds failing to mesh.

In a post called, "I Went To The First Annual CPAC Latino So You Wouldn't Have To," conservative pollster Mike Madrid gives his accounting of how it went. He bluntly states that, "Reports about the GOP understanding Latino voters appear wildly exaggerated."

Stating, "This CPAC event was unlike any I had attended in the past," Madrid noted something that stood out above all else: it was a CPAC event with only one MAGA hat present.

"This probably should have been my first clue that something was amiss. As the well-tailored suits and dresses rolled in on the clearly successful and largely Cuban crowd, I counted only one red MAGA hat on a red, white, and blue bedazzled clearly non-Hispanic white woman," he wrote. "The official attendee count declared 700, and there was only one MAGA hat among them. There were no performative clown shows that have come to define CPAC as the MAGA Mardi Gras of America. Very few sequined purses. No gold Trump statues."

Madrid reported that the sophisticated attendees focused on economic ambitions, but things changed once the event took a MAGA turn.

"After lunch, things really got lost in translation. It was as if two worlds completely collided and neither group had any sense or understanding of why they were all there," according to Madrid. "The CPAC celebrities took the stage and tried to turn it into the MAGA rally we have all come to expect. Matt and Mercedes Schlapp, the leaders of CPAC, took to the stage with Katy Perry music blaring and immediately leaned into the Republican red meat extravaganza that the most rabid partisans come looking for."

That did not go over well, he said.

"All of this fell completely flat. The crowd offered tepid golf claps at cued moments for applause. A few people stood and politely removed themselves from the ballroom. It was as if the whole crowd felt they were suckered into a timeshare pitch they were being held captive to for an entire afternoon. None of them had signed up for this," he wrote. "This was a sophisticated business crowd looking to network and find value for their enterprises, and they were suckered into a Charlie Kirk podcast."

Madrid said the "capstone that made this all clear was the speech that Congressman Byron Donalds gave."

"Donalds, a MAGA favorite and GOP rising star who is likely the next governor of Florida, took the stage to a polite welcome. Donalds immediately began ripping into the socialists who won in New York City's mayoral primary and started his speech by warning everyone that he would not be polite or reserved in his attacks," Madrid wrote. "Donalds, too, fell completely flat. Awkwardly so."

Madrid even provided a video of part of Donalds' speech.

'No, it's not a fact': GOP's Donalds cut off by CNN host after rant about Trump tariffs

During a contentious CNN interview with Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) on a variety of issues, including his run for Florida's governor, news broke that President Donald Trump would be reversing course again, and suspending "most new tariffs on Mexico."

"I want to ask you about this breaking news just coming in to CNN that Trump just announced that Mexico will not be required to pay tariffs on any products that fall under the USMCA agreement," anchor Pamela Brown began. "He did this, quote, 'Out of respect for the Mexican president.' Was Trump's back-and-forth tariff decision the right call, especially given the volatility of markets?"

Donalds answered, "Well, look, I'm going to repeat myself a little bit here. It is important that we stabilize not just our economic relationships around the globe, but also the fact that we got to secure our border and we got to stop the flow of fentanyl. Give Donald Trump the opportunity to actually negotiate with the Mexican president and with Canada and with China. You got to give him that opportunity, because when prices were rising in the United States, I didn't hear CNN talking about that much. As a matter of fact, you ignored most of it while it was hurting the American people."

ALSO READ: 'Absolutely unconscionable': Ex-Republican demands Trump removed from office after fight

"Well, we did," Brown countered.

Donalds continued, "So, let the president negotiate on tariff policy. That is what he's doing, and it's going to work out to the better."

"We did cover, we did cover that," Brown repeated.

"You didn't cover it the way it needed to be covered. Let's just be perfectly honest," Donalds shot back.

"OK, well, that's a matter of opinion."

Donalds carried on, "You let the last administration get away with it but the American people suffered as a result."

"That is your opinion, but we did," Brown maintained.

"Oh, no, that's not my opinion. That's a fact."

"OK, no it's not a fact," Brown concluded before moving on.

Watch the clip below via CNN or click the link.

'Very interesting question': MAGA lawmaker has no answer for Trump's unpaid police bills

CHICAGO — While eviscerating Vice President Kamala Harris' law enforcement record outside of the Democratic National Convention, a top MAGA lawmaker heaped praise on former President Donald Trump for his support of police officers.

But Raw Story, which attended the briefing Tuesday at the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, had questions about this for Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) given the Trump campaign's long history of not paying police bills.

Donalds, acknowledging Raw Story, told male reporters assembled, "fellas, all put your hands down," and called on Raw Story's female reporter after he'd first taken "three men questions."

Raw Story asked Donalds: "President Trump has a history of not always paying for bills related to security costs provided at campaign events. So, I'm curious, since you emphasized President Trump's support of men and women in blue, if you think it's important for presidential campaigns to pay for protection for local police departments who provide security at those events?"

Donalds deflected Raw Story's question about Trump's support of the police despite racking up unpaid security bills from local police and municipalities.

Donald's called Raw Story's inquiry "a very interesting question," and that he had "no idea what you're talking about, but that's OK."

ALSO READ: ‘Absolutely essential’: Son of Oath Keeper Stewart Rhodes is all in for Kamala Harris

The Trump campaign has repeatedly stiffed local municipal governments, and Trump has repeatedly rebuffed them when they asked him pay unexpected public safety bills associated with his campaign rallies — facts that have been widely reported by various media since Donald Trump's first presidential campaign in 2016.

The Trump campaign incurred more than $840,000 in unpaid security bills during the 2016 election, nearly $2 million by December 2020, and cost local municipalities more than $100,000 across eight events in 2023.

"I know that the President does support law enforcement 100 percent and what you're finding is law enforcement officers all around the country support him. Now with respect to the campaign, the campaign pays its bills," Donalds said.

Donalds said he would "leave it at that" and immediately asked for another question.

Donalds said Trump has the support of police associations — the Milwaukee Police Association among the most recent, despite activist pushback — and that Harris "praised" the "defund the police movement" in 2020.

"They know he takes public safety seriously. They know that he supports the men and women in blue who serve our communities every single day," Donalds said.

A Manhattan jury earlier this year convicted Trump on 34 felony charges of falsifying business records in order to cover up an alleged affair with former porn actress Stormy Daniels immediately prior to the 2016 presidential election. Trump's criminal and civil legal history has emerged this week as a major theme of the Democratic National Convention.

Long list of unpaid bills

Trump's campaign, echoing statements made in past years, denied that it is responsible for covering the cost of local law enforcement efforts at Trump rallies.

“It is the U.S. Secret Service, not the campaign, which coordinates with local law enforcement," the Trump campaign said in a statement to Raw Story. "The campaign itself does not contract with local governments for police involvement. All billing inquiries should go to the Secret Service.”

The Secret Service, in turn, has maintained that it does not receive funding from Congress to defray the cost of local law enforcement support it requests for presidential campaign rallies it protects.

Earlier this year, Congress infused the Secret Service with $320 million that it quietly repurposed from the obsolete Presidential Election Campaign Fund, but key members of Congress and the Secret Service have refused to detail how that money will be used — and whether any of it will help local governments.

The Secret Service came under heavily criticism following an attempt on Trump's life during an outdoor campaign rally in Butler, Pa. Trump was millimeters away from being severely wounded or killed when a gunman's bullet grazed his ear. One rally attendee died from a bullet wound.

Donalds' congressional office did not immediately respond to Raw Story's follow-up questions citing reporting on Trump's unpaid police bills that have left taxpayers to pay for security costs, including in areas where police forces are already under-resourced and short-staffed.

Harris' campaign did not immediately respond to Raw Story's questions about the press conference.

Nothing is stopping the Trump campaign from voluntarily honoring police bills from at least 30 cities that have sent them, including Minneapolis; Albuquerque, N.M.; Spokane, Wash.; El Paso, Texas; Wildwood, N.J.; and Green Bay, Wis.

Over the years, presidential campaign committees have taken wildly different approaches to municipal governments' police bills for public safety costs associated with campaign rallies.

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), for example, religiously paid such bills during his 2016 campaign. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) initially didn't pay police bills associated with his 2016 presidential campaign, but changed his mind and paid all of them prior to running again in 2020. The presidential campaigns of Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton paid some bills, but not others.

Republican counter-programming

The Democratic National Convention enters its second day today, with Obama scheduled to headline a slate of evening speeches.

Donalds said he was in Chicago to not only voice his support of Trump but to lay out the "stark contrast" between the tickets of Trump and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), "who take public safety seriously," and Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, "who like to play politics with the safety of the American people."

During the press conference, the campaign displayed poster boards with selected statistics about elevated murder rates in major cities such as Chicago, New York City, Kansas City and Washington, D.C., claiming that crime rates are "massively up" in cities under Democratic leadership. People are "safer" and "happier" in areas where "Republicans led by Donald Trump are in control," argued Donalds, a rising star in conservative circles who Trump for a time considered as a presidential running mate.

One selected statistic came from a January article by Chicago public broadcasting station, WTTW, that showed a 23 percent increase in Chicago homicides between 2019 and 2023, citing a chart based off Chicago Police Department data. However, the article focused on the 13 percent decrease in homicides and shootings in 2023 and a return to pre-pandemic violence rates.

"Crime is only down from the horrifically high levels under the Joe Biden Kamala Harris administration," Donalds said.

The article showed a spike in crime in 2020 when Trump was still president, marking 778 homicides in Chicago. Homicides hit a high in 2021 with 804 homicides in Chicago when President Joe Biden took office and declined below 2020 rates after that.

Donalds recently pushed back on ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos, who asked him about Trump's comments on Harris' racial identity, which included accusing her of becoming Black. Harris has always identified as both an Indian-American and Black.

'Oh stop!' GOP's Byron Donalds gets testy when CNN anchor corners him on union remarks

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) tried to spin away Donald Trump's cheerleading for Elon Musk firing striking workers, but CNN's Kate Bolduan wasn't having it.

The United Auto Workers union filed an unfair labor practice complaint against the Republican presidential nominee and the Tesla CEO after Trump praised Musk as "the greatest cutter" because he had fired or threatened to fire workers who went on strike, and Donalds insisted they were discussing the tech mogul's takeover of Twitter.

"I think what they were talking about during that conversation was about when it went Elon took over Twitter," Donalds said. Right now it's named X, obviously, but when he took over Twitter, yeah, Elon went in there and he cleaned house. But yes, look, Twitter was a mess at the time when he took it over. They had massive amount of people working at Twitter, but it wasn't actually generating income at the end of the day."

Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion in October 2022 and renamed it the following July, and a financial disclosure filed by the mutual fund Fidelity, which owns a stake in the company, showed the social media platform had lost 71 percent of its value after the CEO cut at least half of the staff and reduced moderation, which drove about 15 percent of its monthly users away in the first year.

ALSO READ: Harris has figured out Trump’s greatest liability

"People need to remember in our country businesses whether they are large or small, they have to generate income. When they generate income, it gives you an ability to hire workers, pay workers, and exchange their labor for money," Donalds said. "That's how our economic system works. Not everybody is going to be able to just keep their job just because they worked at the company. It's an unfortunate reality."

Bolduan attempted to drive him back on topic, saying she was specifically asking about the circumstances of Musk firing striking workers, but the GOP lawmaker tried to steer the conversation to attacking Kamala Harris' economic record.

"I'm talking about what they were talking about in that conversation," he said, brushing past Bolduan's redirection. "They were talking about Twitter, X, that's what he was talking about. Was there even a conversation – oh, stop, see, now this is the problem because we're talking about a specific business. Do we want to talk about what Elon Musk did at X or do we want to talk about the economic policies facing America?"

It's not clear what employees Trump and Musk were talking about, but eight former workers at SpaceX sued the rocket company and Musk alleging they were fired for challenging a hostile work environment rife with sexual harassment, and an appeals court upheld a National Labor Relations Board finding that he had threatened Tesla employees in a Twitter post with a loss of stock options if they formed a union.

"We have, our show, confirmed the statement from [Teamsters president] Sean O'Brien reacting to that part of the conversation, saying firing workers for organizing, for striking and exercising the rights as Americans, is economic terrorism," Bolduan said. "That is what I was asking you about. I think it's an important statement coming from a very important union president."

Watch below or click the link.

- YouTubeyoutu.be

'Mopped the floor': Social media erupts after ABC host 'demolishes' Trump surrogate on air

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), a close ally to Donald Trump who was rumored to be an early addition to the former president's search for a vice presidential pick, was raked over the coals online after his interview on ABC News on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, host George Stephanopoulos called out Donalds after he repeatedly slurred the racial identity of Vice President Kamala Harris, piggybacking off of an attack line advanced by Trump himself.

"But if we're going to be accurate, when Kamala Harris went into the United States Senate, it was AP that said she was the first Indian American United States Senator," the Republican lawmaker opined. "Now she's running nationally. Obviously, the campaign has shifted. You're talking much more about her father's heritage and her Black identity."

ALSO READ: We asked 10 Republican senators: ‘Is Kamala Harris Black?’ Things got weird fast.

"And you just repeated the slur again," Stephanopoulos noted over the weekend. "She's always identified as a Black woman. She is biracial. She has a Jamaican father, an Indian mother."

The interaction didn't play well online, with one political pundit, @mmpadellan, saying, "WOW, you could start your day with a cup of coffee OR you could wake up with a steaming hot cup of George Stephanopoulos putting his foot all the way up Byron Donalds’ lying a-- about Kamala Harris."

"I suggest the latter. It's BRILLIANT," he added.

Independent journalist Aaron Rupar said, "George Stephanopoulos DEMOLISHES Byron Donalds's defense of Trump's racist attacks on Kamala Harris."

Mike Sington, formerly of NBC, said Sunday, "In bonkers interview, George Stephanopoulos rips into Byron Donalds for continuing to question Kamala Harris’ racial identity."

@ArtCandee also chimed in on the interview, saying, "ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos mopped the floor with Byron Donalds."

Watch the video below or click the link.

Exclusive: Failed VP pick Rubio and angsty GOPers nervous Trump will mess up convention

Editor's note: Marco Rubio has been taken out of the running as Trump's VP pick, per news reports.

MILWAUKEE — Even before the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, Republicans gathering here this week at the Republican National Convention were bullish about the party’s chances in November.

Outwardly, at least.

Dig a little deeper and many Republicans are nervous.

At least one of Trump’s potential vice presidential picks is publicly praying for a boring convention here in Milwaukee, particularly amid Democratic infighting over whether President Joe Biden should quit the race and yield to Vice President Kamala Harris — or someone else.

“With the other party being dysfunctional, that’s probably the ideal convention,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) told Raw Story after voting Thursday at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

ALSO READ: Rumors swirl as 'three black trucks with U.S. government plates' show up at J.D. Vance house

The thinking is, if recent polls are correct, it’s the GOP’s presidential election to lose. And now, after the shooting in Pennsylvania, many are saying images of his defiant clenched fist and sacrificially blood-stained face all but guarantee a Trump win in November.

But there’s an X factor: Trump himself. The populist appeal of the former president comes coupled with his unpolished political style, marked more by bluster and bombast than bringing people together.

“Some people say Trump's a little dysfunctional sometimes — what do you think he needs to do?” Raw Story asked Rubio.

“That’s not been my experience. He just doesn't work like other people around here,” Rubio said. “He comes from a background in real estate and business, and it's just a different language. And so it may seem alien to people around here, but I watched firsthand how it works, certainly, on the world stage.”

Ahead of Saturday’s attempted assassination attempt of Trump, Raw Story asked 10 congressional Republicans what they were hoping to get out of this week’s convention.

The consensus: Don’t mess this up.

“The platform pretty well lays out what we need to do in general enough terms that where there are slight disagreements you can smooth the corners of that,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) told Raw Story.

ALSO READ: Donald Trump starts fundraising off his own assassination attempt

With Trump’s base fired up and all in, the lingering question is whether Trump and the GOP can broaden their tent and appeal to Independents.

“Do you think Trump needs to focus more on the middle?” Raw Story asked Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), another lawmaker mentioned for vice presidential consideration.

“He's already doing that,” Donalds told Raw Story on the Capitol steps.

“In what ways?”

“He's focusing on everybody,” Donalds said. "You know, his entire view is bringing common sense policy to the country. Focusing on issues, whether it's securing our border or getting our economy rolling again, that's what everybody wants. He's already there.”

Other Republicans wonder where Donalds gets his news, because they know how alienating Trump can be to many Americans. That’s why many are praying for an unexciting gathering of the party faithful.

“Stability. Simple message. Lack of drama,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) told Raw Story. “You know people want stability. They're tired of chaos and the loud noises on both sides. So if our side and President Trump can communicate stability and a moderating theme, that's what we want. Let these other guys blow it.”

In a presidential contest that’s projected to be razor thin, Bacon’s Omaha, Neb., district is especially important this cycle because the state — along with Maine — are not winner-take-all states for the purpose of the Electoral College. Nebraska awards two statewide electoral college votes, then three based on how each of the state’s three congressional districts vote in November.

Bottom line: Biden and Trump could split Nebraska’s electoral votes.

“I always try to recommend it, at the least in our area in Omaha, the Midwest — we're called Nebraska nice for a reason,” Bacon said. “I just say in our district, people want governance, conservative governance but decency. And that's what we want to communicate.”

But Bacon has gotten pushback from team Trump for calling for calm before. But “stability” and turning down the volume on “chaos” are notions that team Trump have rejected in the past.

“I remember saying that during his administration, and [Trump’s] chief of staff told me to shut up,” Bacon said.

While Bacon wouldn’t say which Trump chief of staff told him off, Bacon said it was pre-Mark Meadows, who was Trump’s fourth and final chief — coming after Reince Priebus, John Kelly and Mick Mulvaney.

Much as powerful people in Trump’s orbit may want him to “shut up,” Bacon’s calling for calm, once again.

“Let the other side implode. Nobody can deny what they saw [in the first debate],” Bacon said, referring to Biden’s disastrous performance. “I still think it's gonna be a tough fight.”

Tough fight indeed, but at least one more Republican is already praising Trump for forcing the entire Republican Party — on paper, at the least — to take a symbolic step toward the middle. That came when Trump effectively overruled the party’s previous calls for a nationwide abortion ban.

“I've got a lot to say about that,” Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) told Raw Story on the Capitol steps. “I mean, I think I've been pretty vocal about going after independent voters, suburban women, and I’ve tried to be a really strong voice for the party but he's doing a remarkable job on his own. He put IVF and birth control and contraception into the Republican Party platform for the first time ever in history.”

While Democrats remain dubious after Trump’s three additions to the Supreme Court played decisive roles in overturning Roe v. Wade, Mace is cheering because Trump, who once declared himself the most “pro-life president ever,” did not go nearly as far on abortion as the GOP’s loud and powerful evangelical members wanted.

“He's doing things no one has ever done. It's pretty remarkable,” Mace said as her face lit up with a tangible smile. “This wouldn't be done under anybody else. Like, he's literally doing things that I think will really appeal to suburban women.”

Like most Republicans, Mace is quick to pivot away from talk of her party’s platform and attempt to keep the conversation focused on Biden’s woes.

“It's gonna be a hard fight for the middle, for sure,” Mace said. “But, I mean, Biden’s the best gift to the Republican Party right now.”

It’s not just the independent middle — Trump still has moderate Republicans to win over, particularly in critical swing states such as Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona and Pennsylvania.

Team Trump seems to be realizing that. After initially seeming to dis her at this year’s convention, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley — who was racking up double-digit percentages in GOP primaries even after it was clear Trump locked up the nomination —- is now slated to address this Trump-centric convention hall.

“He’s gonna need all support. It's not gonna be an easy election,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) told Raw Story.

While Haley is not on Trump’s short list for vice president, Norman is holding out hope he taps her as his VP.

“Look, everything is fluid now. I hope he picks her for VP,” Norman said. “Who beat 12 other candidates? Who attracts young, old, female? Nikki Haley.”

Norman knows that’s a long shot whim, because he knows Trump hates sharing the spotlight, which is something Haley proved herself good at capturing, even in a losing primary cause.

That’s why respected Republicans keep reminding team Trump — and the former president himself — to stay focused.

“You keep it simple,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) told Raw Story. “Focus on the massive failures and immigration and border security, inflation, etcetera. And it's not rocket science, per se.”

Simple is one thing. Appealing to the middle — especially when you’re Donald Trump — is an entirely different thing altogether.

The tension in the GOP is undeniable (just ask former Speaker Kevin McCarthy if you have any doubts), which is why many Republicans are urging their party’s standard bearer to focus on anything but divisions this week in Milwaukee.

“The more we can communicate civility and no chaos, the better,” Bacon, of Omaha, told Raw Story. “Americans are tired. We're tired of all that noise out there.”

And even though Rubio would prefer a tranquil convention, he’s 100 percent behind his former nemesis — remember “little Marco”? — during a week when Trump could very well team with Rubio on the Republican ticket.

“This is a two-choice election,” Rubio said. “The choice is pretty clear.”

Michael Flynn appears to exit Donald Trump veepstakes

Retired Lt. General Michael Flynn, who briefly served as national security adviser under former President Donald Trump, signaled he’s not in contention to be Trump’s running-mate in the 2024 presidential election.

“Hope not, I’m spending time with my grandchildren,” Flynn posted Thursday morning on X, in a reply to a Raw Story post.

— (@)

Flynn’s response was prompted by a Raw Story article about a filing with the Federal Election Commission — confirmed to be fictitious — that indicated Donald Trump has selected Flynn as his vice presidential running mate. Trump campaign treasurer Bradley Crate told Raw Story the filing was a “fraud.”

Flynn is not generally believed to be among the people under serious consideration to serve as Trump’s running mate and vice president.

That list includes Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida, Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson.

But among some of the more extreme elements of Trump’s MAGA base, Flynn’s loyalty to Trump and military background — coupled with his experience as a target of federal prosecution — make him an appealing potential running mate for Trump, who is himself mired in multiple criminal and civil legal proceedings.

Patrick Byrne, the former Overstock.com CEO who has been working alongside Flynn since the 2020 election, wrote on X earlier this month: “The only way Trump wins is if he makes Flynn his VP candidate. Flynn knows how to spring Trump from prison.”

ALSO READ: Marjorie Taylor Greene buys condo in 'crime ridden hell hole'

Byrne said he respected half of those thought to be under serious consideration for the role, but added, “Trump’s going to be sitting in jail. The world is at war and we need a General.”

Trump and Flynn have remained in touch since Trump left the White House on Jan. 20, 2021, particularly when Trump has faced some of his most serious legal peril.

Flynn was on a “Pastors for Trump National Prayer Call” in March 2023, shortly before Trump was indicted in Manhattan for falsifying business records related to the Stormy Daniels hush-money affair.

Earlier this year, a jury found Trump guilty of all 34 charges in the case, and he is scheduled for sentencing on July 11 — four days before the start of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

Also in March 2023, Trump called into a ReAwaken America Tour stop at the Trump National Doral resort in Miami and told Flynn: “You have to stay healthy because we’re bringing you back.”

'Fraud': Trump campaign denies federal filing naming Michael Flynn as VP running mate

A new political committee registered with the Federal Election Commission indicates Donald Trump will name his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, as his vice presidential running-mate.

But the committee, “Donald J. Trump and Michael Flynn for President 2024 Inc.”, is bogus, the Trump campaign confirmed to Raw Story.

“It’s fraud,” Bradley T. Crate, the Trump campaign treasurer, told Raw Story.

The filing, submitted to the FEC on Tuesday, lists Crate, who is legitimately the treasurer of the Trump’s principal campaign committee, as treasurer of the bogus Trump/Flynn committee.

Besides being false, the filing also contains a sloppy error: It lists Crate, not Trump, as the candidate for president.

Judith Ingram, a spokesperson for the Federal Election Commission, declined to comment.

Plague of fake political committees

It takes little time and effort to create a federal political committee, at least on paper.

But once done, a federal record is automatically generated and posted publicly to FEC.gov, the agency's website.

In late 2022, for example, someone created a federal political committee indicating that former Vice President Mike Pence had formed a 2024 presidential campaign committee.

But the committee was a fraud, and Pence's representatives scrambled to correct the record and debunk several premature media reports that Pence, who ultimately would run for president months later, had entered the race.

President Joe Biden, who Trump is slated to debate on Thursday, has also experienced fake political committees created in his name.

A parade of other bogus filings have also served to cause confusion, and sometimes, even threatening situations, such as when people have used FEC documents to launch racist screeds or doxx their enemies.

The FEC notes that "knowingly and willfully making any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation to a federal government agency" is a violation of federal law, and the FEC is "authorized to report apparent violations to the appropriate law enforcement agencies."

But the FEC, an independent, bipartisan civil regulatory agency that only has the power to seek civil penalties against suspected bad actors, rarely asks the Department of Justice to pursue such matters.

Violations typically result in no more than a sternly worded letter from the FEC.

Flynn in the spotlight

A retired lieutenant general who briefly served as Trump’s national security adviser, Flynn remains a galvanizing figure among more extreme elements of Trump’s base.

During the 2016 campaign, Flynn led supporters in chanting, “Lock her up,” directed at Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Flynn’s stint as national security adviser under Trump proved short lived, and he eventually pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

Flynn received a pardon from Trump after the 2020 election, and Flynn emerged as a leading figure in the effort to overturn the election, including meeting with Trump at the White House in December 2020 and urging him to seize voting machines and re-run the election.

Flynn spent the months of April and May promoting a documentary movie that portrays him as a victim of political persecution, and has continued to play a role as a kind of surrogate for the former president, who has faced his own legal challenges, in amplifying grievances against a so-called “Deep State.”

Since receiving the presidential pardon in November 2020, Flynn has not avoided controversy, including his association with a volunteer security team that has been accused of detaining a Washington state woman based on a manufactured claim that her life was in danger from a mysterious global ballot trafficking group, as exclusively reported by Raw Story.

Among Flynn’s supporters, the retired lieutenant general’s name is frequently mentioned as a good pick for vice president during a second Trump term.

Ivan Raiklin, a retired Army Special Forces officer, has participated as a presenter in the Flynn movie tour. In a post on X yesterday, Raiklin touted Flynn as a strong 2024 vice presidential possibility, noting how Flynn has long remained “loyal” to Trump.

Raiklin set up an X poll asking who Trump should choose as his running mate in 2024.. One commenter responded with a fake cover of Time magazine showing Flynn standing alongside Trump, with the inscription: “Trump/Flynn: Patriots the Deep State fear most.”

Patrick Byrne, a close associate, recently predicted on X that "in two weeks Trump is going to be either in jail or under house arrest" and that "his VP needs to be a General." He linked to Flynn's social media profile.

Trump hasn’t exactly dampened Flynn-for-vice-president enthusiasm as he continues to mull a new running mate after splitting with former Vice President Mike Pence.

In March 2023, the former president called into a “ReAwaken America Tour” stop at the Trump National Doral resort in Miami and told Flynn: “You just have to stay healthy because we’re bringing you back. We’re going to bring you back.”

Other potential Trump vice presidential short-listers include Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida, Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson.

In a fundraising message to supporters Wednesday, Trump wrote that he has "narrowed down the field to just the strongest contenders, but I need to hear from [you] before I make my official decision."

Rep. Byron Donalds, his gigantic Jim Crow myth and a forgotten fact about Black voters

As we celebrated Juneteenth last week, a political argument is brewing about the legacy of the Jim Crow era.

It’s important, generally, to provide greater scrutiny of that era, lest we repeat, or even in some cases maintain, the legacy of that time frame in America.

But Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) ignited an acute firestorm of opposition and support at a June political event.

NBC reported that Donalds, a Trump campaign surrogate and potential vice presidential short-lister, “suggested that by embracing Democrats, circumstances have worsened for Black people. He pointed to programs enacted by President Lyndon Johnson in the 1960s that included expanding federal food stamps, housing, welfare and Medicaid for low-income Americans.

“‘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,’ Donalds told the audience Tuesday.”

Critics listed a myriad of horrors from the Jim Crow era, from KKK violence to curtailed voting rights to unconstitutional discrimination. Donalds defended himself, saying his remarks were only limited to Black families.

I researched whether Black people really “voted conservatively” during the Jim Crow era.

Bottom line: Donalds’ assertion is not supported by the evidence.

As Daphney Douglas at Salve Regina University discovered in her thesis, African Americans overwhelmingly voted for Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1936, well before the 1960s. Proquest found that 71 percent of African Americans voted Democratic in that election, according to news reports.

Douglas lists the actions that Republican Herbert Hoover engaged in that drove African Americans from the Republican Party, such as the Supreme Court nomination of John Parker.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act . (FDR Library Digital Collection.)

African Americans tended to vote for Republicans before Hoover on the basis of civil rights issues typically against the conservative Democrats who pushed for segregation.

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But for Northern liberal Democrats, African American voters clearly felt differently.

Donalds is also mistaken about the source of African American poverty. Research by scholars at the Griswold Center for Economic Policy Studies in 2022 found that “although Black wealth growth outpaced that of white Americans’ between 1870 and 1930, the rate of convergence in these years lags far behind what would be expected had the two groups enjoyed equal conditions for wealth accumulation. Indeed, the historical record is rife with instances of expropriation of Black wealth, exclusion of Black Americans from the political process, and legally sanctioned segregation and discrimination in land, labor, and capital markets. All of these factors likely contributed to sluggish convergence over this period.”

Moreover, the programs Donalds blames for African American poverty aren’t responsible for that.

The Griswold Center scholars found: “During the 1960s through the 1980s, convergence regains speed, exceeding what would be predicted by our equal-conditions benchmark. The dismantling of Jim Crow through Black activism and civil rights legislation, expansions of the social safety net, and improved labor standards during this period may have boosted wealth-accumulating conditions for Black Americans.

Although the wealth gap remained sizable in these decades, it remained on track to converge. From today’s vantage point, however, these gains were short-lived. Starting in the 1980s, we document a widening of the racial gap in capital gains as well as a complete stalling of income convergence. These forces have caused the wealth gap to leave the convergence path altogether and to start increasing again.”

The economic numbers show that problems emerged when the beneficial policies of the 1960s were rolled back in the 1980s.

I agree with Donalds in his criticism of Florida education standards, which insist that there were “benefits” of slavery.

But he and I disagree about the legacy of Jim Crow. Black families were not better off economically during that dark time. The policies of the 1960s closed the racial gap in earnings but were rolled back in the 1980s. And African American support of Democrats began decades earlier than Donalds claims.

John A. Tures is a professor of political science at LaGrange College in LaGrange, Georgia. His views are his own. He can be reached at jtures@lagrange.edu. His “X” account is JohnTures2.

CNN guest cracks up at thought of Black voters backing Byron Donalds

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) could become former President Donald Trump's running mate for 2024, but one thing he almost certainly won't do is attract Black voters to the ticket.

That's according to Democratic strategist Karen Finney, who joined a CNN panel Friday.

The comment comes as Trump meets with GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill, and hints that his ultimate pick for vice president is likely someone already in that room.

"Byron Donalds, really out there making the case for himself on CNN this morning," commented anchor Jake Tapper.

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"And he was the one who made the same joke to me that it should be him," said Politico reporter Olivia Beavers. "He, Donalds, is a little bit more conservative and leaning into the populist wing, than I would say the Nikki Haley voters. He's Freedom Caucus. And he has had his moments of being a rebel in the House with Speaker McCarthy. Haley, I think, was a little bit more mainstream."

"I would predict that if he names Byron Donalds, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will win because black voters are not going to vote for Byron Donalds at all," said Finney, bursting out laughing.

Donalds, who has been making the rounds on the cable news circuit trying to boost his profile as Trump makes his running mate decision, came under fire this month for his remarks at a Black Republican event in Philadelphia that Black families were more stable and self-reliant under Jim Crow segregation. He subsequently defended his comments and resolutely denied that anything he said was a defense of Jim Crow.

Watch the video below or at the link here.

Karen Finney laughs at the idea of Black voters supporting Byron Donaldswww.youtube.com