Five Most Race-Baiting Comments Politicians Have Said Over The Last Year

TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA - DECEMBER 06: Republican presidential candidates Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (L) and Vivek Ramaswamy shake hands at the conclusion of the NewsNation Republican Presidential Primary Debate at the University of Alabama Moody Music Hall on December 6, 2023 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Four GOP presidential hopefuls squared off during the fourth Republican primary debate without current frontrunner and former U.S. President Donald Trump, who has declined to participate in any of the previous debates

Making a comprehensive list of the most outlandish comments on race this year isn’t easy. We did have multiple candidates for President competing over who could downplay slavery and white supremacy the most. So instead, here’s a non-comprehensive list of the political moments that left us completely shook when it came to race.

1. Ron DeSantis Saying Slavery Was A Job Training Program

There was no way to talk about racist comments without bringing up Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. The GOP Presidential Candidate vigorously defended the state’s new curriculum that teaches that slavery benefited Black Americans by providing skills training. DeSantis said it was reasonable to “show that some of the folks…eventually parlayed, you know, being a blacksmith into doing things later in life.” YIKES. Even his fellow Republicans, like Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), had to call him on that one.

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4. Trump Calling A Black Prosecutor An Animal

Former President Donald Trump has been consistently spurting out racially-coded attacks on the bevy of Black prosecutors with cases against him. But his comment on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is more than a dog whistle. Trump called Bragg “a Soros backed animal” — leaning into both antisemitic conspiracy theories about George Soros and racist stereotypes about Black people being akin to animals.

5. Marjorie Taylor Greene Saying Calling Someone A White Supremacist Was The New N-Word

In March, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene came for Rep. Jamaal Bowman, saying that he’d “physically threatened her” during an intense back and forth. The event was captured on camera, with both parties raising their voice, but no indication that things were going to get physical. Reporters on the scene from MSNBC noted that Green’s characterization was wrong and potentially dangerous, given the history of white Americans weaponizing feeling unsafe around Black Americans. What’s more, Greene claimed that Bowman calling her a White Supremacist was equivalent to saying the N-word.

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