U.S. Rep. of Michigan John James speaks during the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 15, 2024. | Source: PATRICK T. FALLON / Getty
Republican Michigan Congressman John James on Monday night took the stage at the RNC to make his case for why he thinks Donald Trump should be elected president.
As one of just seven Black people tapped by Republicans to speak at the RNC, James made sure to tell the mostly white audience how he never used racism as an excuse for anything. But toward the end of his racial kumbaya speech at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, James — in an apparent effort at humor — employed a play on words that President Joe Biden made famous last election cycle.
While waxing nostalgic about Trump’s policies when he was president and taking a cheap shot — if not a disingenuous one — at President Barack Obama, James said: “If you don’t vote Donald Trump, you ain’t Black.”
The line was greeted with laughter that may have been motivated more out of confusion than anything else.
The phrase James used was a nod to Biden’s interview with Charlamagne Tha God from The Breakfast Club radio show in 2020.
When the topic moved to Black voters and whether Democrats have been taking them for granted, Biden openly admitted that Black people are owed by his party. When Charlamagne suggested that Black voters may be considering supporting Trump or not voting because of his role in enacting the infamous 1994 crime bill that disproportionately affected Black people, Biden blurted out: “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump then you ain’t Black!”
In response to that viral exchange, James filmed a video of himself mocking Biden.
James is somewhat of a controversial figure beyond telling a mostly white group of Republican National Convention-goers that they “ain’t Black” if they don’t vote for Trump.
In 2018, he was shamed into apologizing for a campaign ad that was supposed to be about failing schools but for some reason also included an image of a school hallway that showed a swastika on a bulletin board.
James, who was endorsed by Trump in a failed U.S. Senate bid, said, “I need to fess up and admit this was a terrible error on our part. We should have caught this error and we didn’t, and there’s no excuse. I’m responsible for everything that our team does and fails to do, and I will do everything in my power to make sure this never, ever happens again.”
James, a military veteran, said any accusation of racism was an “indication of how low people are willing to go.”
Two years later, James had a video conference call with Black community leaders where he was questioned on whether he disagreed with Trump on anything considering Trump tweeted that James “will be a GREAT Senator for Michigan!”
James responded that he has “plenty, plenty of issues” with Trump. “Everything from cutting Great Lakes funding to ‘shithole countries’ to speaking ill of the dead,” James said, supposedly referring to Trump’s denunciation of the late Sen. John McCain. “I mean, where do you want to start?”
“And so yes, there’s gonna be places that I disagree with the president and those are just a couple,” he continued.
Four years after he said that, James was giving a speech at the 2024 Republican National Convention downplaying racism in an effort to support Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy.
This is America.
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