MSNBC’s Tiffany Cross and Elie Mystal Drag ‘Shucking and Jiving’ Black Republicans While Black Republican Guest Praises Trump

MSNBC host Tiffany Cross and Justice Correspondent for The Nation Elie Mystal went off on Black Republicans while Black Republican guest Rufus Montgomery disagreed, and praised former President Donald Trump.

On Saturday’s edition of MSNBC’s The Cross Connection, the host was joined by Mr. Mystal and Mr. Montgomery, a Republican lobbyist and consultant.

Cross prefaced the discussion with a brutal intro package in which she said “I don’t know a lot of Black Republicans who really ride for Black people,” and played clips of several prominent Black Republicans.

“Those are all things not ever heard at the cookout,” Cross said, then introduced her guests.

Mr. Montgomery praised Trump and claimed he helped Black people, while Ms. Cross and Mr. Mystal Disagreed — and Mystal drew a distinction between Black Republicans and Black conservatives:

MR. MONTGOMERY: Thank you for having me. You started out saying it’s not talked about at the cookout. It actually is talked about in the cookout across the country. African-Americans are talking about what’s going on with the current administration. What’s actually happening? I quote Ice Cube in saying that he talked to two parties, he talked to the Democrats, he talked to the Republicans, and one party said, We love what you’re doing. We’ll take some of what you have now and we’ll do more of it when we get reelected. And the other one said, talk to us later. Well, the time now is later, and in cookouts around the country, you’ll hear people talking and having questions, African-Americans asking questions. What are African-Americans getting for that actual vote? You’re giving 90 percent of the time, most of the time for one party. But what are you getting in return? I can talk to you for about forty five minutes about what Donald Trump did to help African-Americans very specifically. And this is being talked about.

MS. CROSS: Sadly, Rufus, I’ll tell you we don’t have forty five minutes. And I just want to be clear, so I’m not saying things aren’t discussed at the cookout. I’m saying those specific Black GOP members are saying things that you do not hear at the cookout. Maybe we go to different cookouts, my friend. But I want to kick it to you, Elie, because I do think Rufus makes some really vElied points about the Democratic Party. I’m certainly not here to be a mouthpiece for the Democrats. We can do a whole segment on that, but we’re talking specifically about the Republican Party. Elie, why? What do you think about this claim that Donald Trump did a lot to help the African-American community? Because I can tick off the top of my head some things that he did that was very harmful to the community. Your thoughts?

MR. MYSTAL: Yeah, there are lots of things that he did to hurt the African-American community, and I’m sure that he did. I’m sure some of the things he did helped a couple of brothers here and there. Look, I make a hard distinction between Black conservatives, of which there are many one of whom just was elected mayor of New York City, in fact. And these tokens who are out here right now, shucking and jiving for their white handlers. And the way that you can know the difference between a token and a person who just happens to have conservative views is that the Black conservative has an argument for why their policies will help the Black community. So I’m sure Rufus and I could go back and forth about where the capital gains tax should be. Rufus would argue that the capital gains tax would help Black people. Lowering the capital gains tax would help Black people build wealth, and I can disagree with that, right? Do you think Herschel Walker understood that sentence? Do you? Because there is no argument that suppressing the votes of African-Americans helps the African American community? There’s no argument that police brutality helps Black people get stronger. There’s no argument that that gerrymandering the way Black representation in Congress helps the African-American community, right? So the problem is that Black conservatives right now, the ones who are still with the Republican Party, are running on an on on a platform that is against the interests of Black people…

MS. CROSS: Right, that’s against our interests,

MR. MYSTAL:…as opposed to Black conservatives who again, we can have interesting policy debates about how best to move forward.

Watch the full segment above via MSNBC.

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