Congressman Byron Donalds (R-FL) ripped into The View host Joy Behar for comparing U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and claiming the Black conservative “doesn’t get it” when talking about the struggles of African-Americans in the United States.
“Joy Behar doesn’t understand that she is a buffoon. She’s paid to spew these things. Nobody really pays attention to anything that she believes in or what she talks about. And this is all so that she sounds good on the Upper West Side, but the rest of America looks at her and says she is utterly ridiculous,” Donalds said on Fox News Wednesday morning.
WATCH:
Rep. Donalds was reacting to a clip from Tuesday’s show where Behar, speaking with the show’s panel, snarked that Scott is “Professor Positive” in contrast to the “doomsday” message coming from former President Donald Trump. Shortly after, Behar went on a tangent about Scott’s race:
“He’s one of these guys like Clarence Thomas. Black Republican who believes in pulling yourself by your bootstraps rather than to me understanding the systemic racism that African-Americans face in this country and other minorities. He doesn’t get it, neither does Clarence, and that’s why they’re Republicans,” said Behar as the audience laughed and applauded.
The comment obviously touched a nerve with Rep. Donalds, who has faced his own criticism for being a Black “prop” of House Republicans, and who came to Sen. Scott’s defense:
“She’s never walked a day in Tim Scott’s shoes or in my shoes or any other Black person in America. So she needs to just sit down, stay in her lane, tell some jokes, but this is not an area for her to comment,” Donalds said.
Sen. Scott recently announced his campaign for president and has drawn focus away from President Trump as some Republicans look to alternatives in the race to unseat President Joe Biden. As Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has stumbled ahead of his soon-to-be-announced campaign, there is certainly an opening for Scott to gain momentum during the early primary season, which counts South Carolina as the third state to cast its preference for a Republican nominee.