Good evening. I'm Abbie Phillip in New York, and I want to get right to it. Tonight, one of Donald Trump's vice presidential contenders, Congressman Byron Donald. He made some comments that has a lot of you talking and a lot of Democrats fired up. I'm going to speak with him live in just a couple of minutes. But here are the original remarks. They were made as a part of a pitch to black voters in Philadelphia. And I want you to hear it in its full context.

Listen, I grew up with my mom, my dad and my mom. Things didn't work out as an adult. I look at my father and I say, bro, I don't know what happened, but you, my father, and I love you. Wow. I don't know what happened. I wasn't there.

But I'm gonna tell you this.

Coming growing up, the one thing I knew I wanted to do, and this is not about my father, this is about what I wanted to do, is I wanted to be a father to myself. And so one of the things that's actually happening in our culture, what you're now starting to see in our politics, is the reinvigoration of black families with younger black men and black women. And that is also helping to breed the revival of a black middle class in America. You see, during Jim Crow, during Jim Crow, the back family was together. During Jim Crow, more black people were not just conservative, because black people always have been conservative minded, but more black people voted conservatively. And then hew, Lyndon Johnson. And then you go down that road, and now we are where we are. What's happened in America the last ten years? And I say it because it's my contemporaries. It's Wesley's contemporaries. You're starting to see more black people being married in homes, raising kids. It's when you home with your wife, raising your kids, and then you look.

At the world, you're saying, now, wait a minute.

Time out. This does not look right. How can I get something to my kids? It goes back to the conversation of generational wealth. Not just having a job, generational wealth.

Now, we should note that many Democrats who jumped on Donald's today claimed that he said that blacks were, quote, better off, as you heard there. He didn't use those exact words in the clip. But the congressman joins me now to talk about that. Congressman, thank you for being here. I want to just focus on, really the substance of what you were saying or trying to say in that clip. What did you mean by black families were more together during Jim Crow?

Frankly, what that is, is about the empirical fact that before the Great Society, before Lyndon Johnson's policies, there was more black families united. The marriage rate in black America was significantly higher before the great society. The period of time that coincides with that, obviously, is Jim Crow era. And then after the Great Society, the marriage rate in the black community plummeted significantly. The great society is a part of that reason? Not completely, but it's definitely a part of that. And what you're seeing right now in America is a reformation of black families in America. That's a good thing not only for the black community and for black families, but it's also a good thing for the country.

So what was the point of tying together the black family and Jim Crow specifically? I mean, Jim Crow, as you know, was a period of racial segregation, of racial terror. Why would you make that connection?

All I was doing was referring to the time periods when you talk about the historical timelines in America and coinciding with black families and what their marriage rate in black families are. The overarching point is obviously talking about what polling shows today, that about 2020, 5% of the black vote, depending on what poll you're looking at, is leaning towards supporting Republicans and supporting President Trump. The corollary to that is, is that when you're in a family unit, husband and wife living together, working together, thriving together, you're raising your kids, your thought process is now talking about building generational wealth. What am I leaving to my children? What kind of communities do I want my children to come up in? What are the educational opportunities? What's going on with the economy? How does you know, and then to a broader level, how does foreign policy and all these other public policy issues flow into that? And so when you compare the terrible agenda of Joe Biden and what that's done to families in America, coinciding with the fact that you are seeing a reformation of black families in America today, which is an absolutely wonderful thing and needs to continue.

My view is it also coincides with a more conservative leaning and a more conservative mindset politically in those families.

One thing I really want to just get you to address is there were a lot of people who heard what you had to say, and a lot of them are offended by the idea that you would repeat Jim Crow three times in your comments, as if to suggest that that was a time period, because that black families were, in your words, together, because in your words, black people were not just more conservative, they voted more conservatively. That's a good thing. I mean, it sounds like nostalgia. Do you regret using that timeframe as a reference.

Nobody ever made nostalgia. That was never the point. It wasn't even about that. So where now I'm gonna get my backup is? I didn't say that. I didn't even insinuate that that is where the media and, yes, Hakeem Jeffries and a lot of other people are taking.

What exactly didn't you. I'm just trying to understand what I'm telling you. What didn't insinuate?

The premise of your question. I did not insinuate. That is what people are trying to weave into what I said. What I said is crystal clear. It's on my social media. Go to Iron Donaldson X. You can see the full clip. Abby, I appreciate you playing the full clip. What you are dealing with right now is a political environment where now anything I might say or any major surrogate might say is gonna be twisted into the lens of race. That was never the point, not the idea of.

I just wanna clarify my questioning of you. I mean, I understand that this idea that you said it was better, you didn't use the words better. But when you talk about that time period, you're suggesting that because the black family was together, they were better off than they are now.

See, this is the problem, Abby.

So are they. So are you saying that that's not the case? That the black family was not better off?

I did.

When they were, in your words together.

Abby, let me put it in the Jim Crow era, let's agree on something. I am, you know, obviously, one of the better communicators in the republican party. I know how to put words together. I do it very, very often. So I'm not gonna say something that I do not agree with. What America is seeing right now, especially black America, is the gaslighting. That, unfortunately, does happen in politics, where you take my comments and you wanna weave your own political viewpoint into what I said.

What I said is very clear because I wanted to. What I wanna undo is understand what you're saying here, because if you're making a comparison, you're saying the black family was together then. They're not together now. And. And you're using that to try to say that things are bad now. Well, first of all, let me just to set the table here. By pretty much every available measure, black families, black individuals in this country, are better off today than they were during Jim Crow. Would you agree with that, Abby?

Of course I would. I'm not making that point. And this is the problem. What the Democrats, what Hakeem Jeffries did on the House floor what Jamie Harrison, what the president of the NAACP with the Biden campaign, because they're the ones who started this. It was really the Biden campaigns who were trying to cherry pick everything. They're trying to twist my words into saying something. I never said that. What I was talking about was specifically black families and the point that black families being together is a great thing for the black community. And you do have to acknowledge the empirical fact that before Lyndon Johnson's policies and the welfare state that was created in the United States. I'm not talking about good, bad or indifferent black families. Hold on. Black marriage rates were significantly higher. They're rising again in America. That's a good thing.

We should celebrate things that may have contributed to the, you know, maybe the decline in marriage rates, which, by the way, is not unique to black families. That's happening actually across racial groups. But what about other things? I mean, what about redlining? Do you think that that had an effect on the black family? What about mass incarceration? What about the war on drugs, which was pushed by a republican president whose adviser said it was specifically to target black people? What about all of those things?

Look, if you want to talk about redlining and a lot of the other policies that were put forward, quite frankly, by the Democrat party, if you're going to go back to Jim Crow, because Jim Crow was Democrat policies, that's what that.

You know. I know that. I know.

Come on, Abby. Don't cut me off when I'm trying to make.

Let me just. I have to correct on a factual point here. I know that you know, I know that you know that the Democratic Party and the Republican Party of today are ideologically not what they were during Jim Crow. You know that, Congressman. So to suggest that, you know, the Democrats of 1920 are the same ideologically as the Democrats of today is inaccurate. So just. You can continue. But I.

That's not totally true, Abby. And I think if we want to have a conversation about the policy positions, Republicans, Democrats.

What.

I'm trying to have that conversation.

But one of the other.

You want to have a conversation once.

You brought it up, because since you brought it up on the conservative thing, the other thing that you said was black people voted more conservatively. Were you talking about them voting for Republicans?

In part, yeah. Because that's just an empirical fact. That's what we know that did happen. And the only corollary that I am making is that when families are together, and now you're trying to find a way to build wealth within your family unit, you're thinking about public policy in a myriad of ways, because at the end of the day, you want your children to be able to stand on your shoulders. I was very, very fortunate. My mother was able to build a platform for me to be able to stand on and to be able to achieve. Same for my sisters. I'm a very blessed individual because of that. My only point is that when you have a family unit, husband and wife living together, striving together, grinding together, raising children together, you start thinking about public policy in a myriad of ways. And my belief is that dynamic allows people to start thinking about public policy in a much more conservative way as opposed to a much more progressive way. That's my point.

That might be. I mean, I think that's a, you're a Republican, so you're entitled to that opinion. But I think what people are taking issue with is you made a couple of statements of fact, and one of the things about, I was asking you about whether you were talking about black people voting for Republicans, you know, in the time period that you're talking about, the LBJ time period, they started voting for Democrats. And the reason is because of civil rights, because a democratic president was passing bills that gave them rights, the Voting Rights act, the Civil Rights act of 1965, the Housing Housing Fairness act. So are youi mean, do you acknowledge that when Democrats, black voters, vote for Democrats, it's actually because there's a history there? There's a reason that they voted for Democrats in that time period, not because they were just getting all of their money? I don't know.

Abby. Abby, let me be clear. I don't deny that. I think it's also important for the record to be clear that you had, the vast majority of Democrats in the Senate were filibustering the 64 Civil Rights act led by Robert Byrd, who, by the way, was a mentor to Joe Biden when he went into the United States Senate. So if we're going to talk about the history, let's talk about it clearly and completely. Republicans have been the ones who were pushing not just the 64 Civil Rights act, but the other four civil rights acts that occurred before 1964. Look, that's the history of the country.

I'm not denying there were Democrats.

Abby, can I finish my point? All I'm asking is to finish my.

Point on the facts here. There are southern Democrats who opposed these civil rights bills, but a majority of them voted for it. It was also led by a democratic president. So you acknowledge that, but you forget Southern Democrats, but you cannot deny recruited into the Republican Party in the time period after that. So when you talk about this, you just have to acknowledge that there's been a switch happening in the two parties. It's not the same today as it was during Jim Crow. And so when you say that black people voted conservatively, that actually doesn't really tell us anything. It just tells us that they voted for the Republican Party, which is a different thing than it is for today.

Are we also going to acknowledge that how the civil. The 64 Civil Rights act actually got through the US Senate was because of also the leadership of Senator Everett Dirksen, who was the minority Republican leader in the United States Senate at that time? You have to acknowledge that.

So I think if we're going to.

Talk about this, all of the history that went along, and I think that's a good thing, we should have that historical conversation.

I wasn't suggesting that congressional republicans necessarily were the stumbling block for any of this legislation. All I'm saying is that when you ask why do black people vote for Democrats? You have to acknowledge that. That is one of the main reasons. I want to just ask one other thing, though, Congressman. It's striking to me that this conversation about the family, about who is the recipient of government benefits, about who was affected by Lyndon B. Johnson's great society, why is it that that conversation only happens to black people when white people are on welfare, when white people are recipients of these programs, too, when white people have broken families as well? Why is this a message that is always directed at black Americans?

I didn't say that at all. I think that's what you're insinuating. But let me explain.

I mean, that's what you did. You were trying to. Black voters.

Abby, if you're gonna. Am I allowed to answer the question? Let me step into that. Okay. A couple of things. Yes, Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, if you look at the empirical data, was destructive, in part, and I said even in my comments yesterday in Philadelphia, in part to black families throughout the United States of America, you also had some of the very damaging policies around the criminal justice system. The 94 crime bill, which was authored by Joe Biden and brought by Joe Biden. Yes. You had the war on drugs. That was also very damaging to black communities. All those things have contributed to that. And where we are today in America is trying to have the economic policies and the public policies so that all people can thrive. And if you're actually going to compare economic policies and public policies between the 45th president and the 46th president, it's without question, they were better under the 45th. So if you're going to examine today, if you're going to examine today in America and we're going as Americans, then you have to have the right set of economic policies and the right set.

Of public health, unemployment.

I mean, Abby, you've been interrupting me the entire interview. I'm just trying to have a conversation.

I'm going to interrupt you on the facts, Congressman. The black unemployment rate was the lowest in american history under Joe Biden just last year. The poverty rate for black people is the lowest under Joe Biden. So you cannot say empirically for black people that from a financial level, things were better under Trump. There are other ways that you can make this case, but you cannot say that.

Actually, let me respond to that, because the economic reality is, is that even though unemployment might be lower, wages adjusted for inflation, which is the true measure of getting ahead in America, that has been bad under Joe Biden. It was significantly better under Donald Trump because we did not have massive inflation and people were making more money, which means you're taking more money home, which means you can begin to prepare for your family, which means you can start to prepare and begin thinking about ideas of getting assets, accumulating assets, and generating wealth. Joe Biden's economy, bidenomics, like he likes to call it. I know they don't using the word anymore. That's been destructive of so many families in our country, including black families in our country. That is the empirical economic factor that we have to acknowledge before this election.

Inflation, I 100% agree with you, is a problem for all families, including maybe even especially black families. But you also cannot ignore that there are a lot of statistics that suggest that black Americans are doing well under Joe Biden better than they were doing underneath Donald Trump. I want to ask you one last thing, because I know that this is actually happening as we're talking. We've learned that you are on the list, obviously, for VP candidates and that you've received some vetting materials from the Trump campaign to be potentially a VP. Can you confirm that, and is there anything more you can tell us about how that process is going?

Well, I'm not going to confirm that right now. I had a conversation with the Trump campaign about that, and I'm gonna leave that very private because they're gonna go through their deliberations. President Trump's gonna make a decision. I will say prices in America have been up over 20% since Joe Biden has taken office. That's hurting everybody. When prices are up 20%. Trust me, Abby. Going to the supermarket, going to the gas station, everybody is struggling. That is a fact. And that is why so many Americans, especially Americans who are minorities in this country, are leaving Joe Biden and the Democrats and looking towards Donald Trump and the Republicans.

All right, Congressman Byron Donald, we appreciate you joining us tonight. Thank you.

Thank you.