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."
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"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."
