Joy Reid Suggests Byron Donalds Was GOP's House Speaker 'Diversity Statement'

MSNBC host Joy Reid suggested Tuesday that Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) was a “diversity statement” by fellow Republicans who nominated him for speaker of the House. (Watch the video below.)

As a far-right faction scuttled last week’s speaker balloting for eventual winner Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Donalds was nominated multiple times as a McCarthy alternative and received a bloc of GOP votes.

Reid zeroed in on his lack of experience.

“You have been in Congress for one term,” Reid said. “What were your qualifications to be speaker of the House?”

“I think my colleagues, they recognize my leadership and have seen it in many leaps and bounds,” answered Donalds, who promotes himself as a “Trump supporting, liberty loving, pro-life, pro-2nd Amendment black man” on his website.

Reid grilled Donalds on the speaker job description, which Donalds answered with a fair accounting. He also appeared to promote a GOP talking point that former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was to blame for lax security that allowed the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol invasion by a Trump-supporting insurrectionist mob.

Reid noted to Donalds that he never served in leadership and fell far short of the experience of previous speakers. Republicans “definitely looked like they were looking for a response to Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) in you because you’ve literally been there for one term,” she alleged.

Jeffries, who is now the first Black House minority leader, led the balloting for Democrats amid the 15 rounds of speaker voting.

Reid noted that African Americans on the Democratic side vastly outnumber the Republican side.

“Do you not believe that the idea was to make a diversity statement by nominating you?” she asked Donalds.

“The reality is that a lot of members do believe in my ability to lead,” Donalds shot back. “Am I to be despised because of my youth?”