'Vile and offensive': Black MAGA lawmaker condemns Republicans caught in racist group chat
Byron Donalds, a pro-Trump Florida congressman currently running for governor and one of a handful of Black Republicans in Congress, issued a statement on Thursday condemning the group of Florida College Republicans, Turning Point USA, and Miami GOP officials who were caught exchanging virulently racist and antisemitic messages in a group chat.
"Everyone has the First Amendment right to say what they want — even when it's vile and offensive. But free speech doesn’t entitle someone to hold a leadership position within the Republican Party or the conservative movement. The comments reported run counter to the values our party stands for. The Republican Party rejects racism, antisemitism, and bigotry," Donalds said in a statement to The Floridian, which first broke the story on Wednesday.
The group chat was led by Miami Secretary Abel Alexander Carvajal and created after the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk last year.
In the exchanges, local GOP student activists often used racial slurs to describe Black people, including Black people who were part of their group and had left as a result of it.
Some of the most vile invective came from William Bejerano, who previously attempted to organize an anti-abortion group at Miami Dade College. Bejerano flooded the chat with fantasies about killing and mutilating Black people, including "crucify filthy blacks," "curb stomp pregnant black n------," "exterminate n------ in the gas chamber," "feed n------ to alligators," "stomp n----- skulls with steel toed boots," and "drown n------ in fried chicken grease."
This comes as Donalds faces competition in his primary by hedge fund manager James Fishback, who has grabbed attention in the primary with a series of racist remarks, including comparing Donalds' campaign contributions to a slave auction, saying Donalds would turn Florida into a "section 8 ghetto," and fantasizing about former CNN reporter Don Lemon being lynched.