'Squad' member blasted for calling Black congressman a 'prop' for the GOP

WASHINGTON (TND) — Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., called Republican Rep. Byron Donalds, who is Black and being floated as a possible alternative to Rep. Kevin McCarthy amid the battle for a new House speaker, “a prop” for the GOP in a tweet Wednesday.

“FWIW, Byron Donalds is not a historic candidate for Speaker. He is a prop,” Bush, a member of the progressive group of lawmakers on Capitol Hill known as "The Squad," tweeted. “Despite being Black, he supports a policy agenda intent on upholding and perpetuating white supremacy. His name being in the mix is not progress—it’s pathetic.”

Donalds has surfaced as the new favorite for Republicans standing in opposition to McCarthy, earning himself votes that have kept McCarthy from winning in four of the six votes for speaker that have occurred thus far. Other alternatives who have received votes include Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz.

During opening remarks ahead of Thursday's seventh vote for speaker, Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., slammed Bush's comments, calling them "grotesquely racist."

"He aint no prop," Bishop said, noting his time spent working with the young lawmaker from Florida. "If he were a prop he wouldn't be sitting where he's sitting. This is the tired old grotesquely racist rhetoric that we've seen far too long."

Bishop's animated remarks about Bush's comments earned him a standing ovation from Republicans and a smug grin from Bush. Donalds himself also responded to Bush's comments.

"FWIW, nobody asked CoriBush her opinion on the matter," Donaldstweeted. "Before you judge my agenda, let's have a debate over the policies and the outcomes. Until then, don't be a crab in a barrel!"

Initially, Donalds supported McCarthy for speaker, but after the former GOP leader failed to obtain the required 218 votes to become speaker in two consecutive House chamber votes, he decided to change course.

“The reality is Rep. Kevin McCarthy doesn’t have the votes,” Donalds tweeted after changing his vote at the third speakership vote that took place Tuesday. “I committed my support to him publicly and for two votes on the House Floor. 218 is the number, and currently, no one is there. Our conference needs to recess and huddle and find someone or work out the next steps.”

During an interview with Fox News, Donalds addressed criticism that the GOP’s infighting is wasting time Congress’s time and hurting the American people.

But Donalds called the battle over House leadership vital, adding it will help Republicans “get Washington back on track.”

“For too long in the nation’s capital, everybody has just gone along with the next wave of leadership,” Donalds told Fox News. “And that’s not an anti-Kevin McCarthy statement. That is a statement about what a deliberative open process means for the constitutional republic that is the United States of America.”