{"id":3654,"date":"2026-10-09T13:34:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T13:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/checkthenews.store\/?p=3654"},"modified":"2026-10-09T13:34:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T13:34:18","slug":"byron-donalds-brilliantly-slams-notion-that-gop-is-racist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/checkthenews.store\/?p=3654","title":{"rendered":"Byron Donalds Brilliantly Slams Notion That GOP is \u2018Racist\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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HBO \u201cReal Time\u201d host Bill Maher likes to tell people he\u2019s not a crazy leftist but a classic liberal in the 1960s mode.<\/p>\n

That said, he still manages, from time to time, to spew typical Democrat talking points when he characterizes Republican voters\u2014like accusing them all of being \u201cracists.\u201d<\/p>\n

Florida Republican gubernatorial nominee Byron Donalds, who is black, pushed back on Maher\u2019s suggestion that race played a role in Donalds\u2019 performance in parts of the state during the recent primary.<\/p>\n

Appearing on Friday\u2019s show, Donalds rejected Maher\u2019s assertion that he lost counties in Florida\u2019s Panhandle in part because the region has a predominantly White electorate.<\/p>\n

Donalds disputed that characterization of the results and challenged the suggestion that racism was responsible for his weaker showing in those areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou did lose the \u2018Redneck Riviera\u2019 badly,\u201d Maher said, referring to Donalds\u2019 losses in Calhoun, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Hardee, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafayette, Levy, Liberty, Madison, Suwannee, Taylor, Union and Washington counties, rural counties where roughly 94% of Republican voters are White.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t get with you on a lot of this policy stuff,\u201d Maher continued. \u201cBut I think it would be great if the country did have [its] first Black, Republican governor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maher went on to heap praise on Donalds for his willingness to run in \u201cthis post-racial world\u201d where constituents don\u2019t care about the \u201ccolor of their skin.\u201d<\/p>\n

But then Maher claimed, \u201cwe\u2019re not quite there yet though.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Redneck Riviera, which is the Panhandle,\u201d Maher began.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there are people there who still would not \u2014 you\u2019re a Republican, you\u2019re a Trumper \u2014 they should love you and they don\u2019t. I think there is still racism,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s talk a little bit about the Panhandle,\u201d Donalds replied, beginning his rebuttal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are counties we did incredibly well in that we won. There were some counties that we fell a little short in, that\u2019s OK,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Donalds went on to note that his victory came within a crowded field of 11 GOP candidates \u201cwho had various lines of support.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe No. 1 thing overall, we closed out 48% of the vote in Florida,\u201d Donalds said. \u201cEight hundred thousand votes [is] a long way to becoming the nominee.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donalds countered Maher\u2019s claim that racial bias affected the primary results, emphasizing that Florida is a state where anyone can seek opportunities in elected office.<\/p>\n

\u201cFlorida really has become the microcosm of what we all want,\u201d Donalds said. \u201cIt\u2019s a meritocracy.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it\u2019s about the best person with the best views, the best skills, the best talent moving forward to represent your state or to represent a district in your state, and Florida exemplifies that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This comes as President Donald Trump\u2019s administration kicked off the week with another decisive move underscoring the \u201cAmerica First\u201d agenda.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has set the refugee admissions cap for Fiscal Year 2026 at a record-low 7,500 \u2014 a dramatic reduction from the 125,000 ceiling established under the Biden administration.<\/p>\n

The policy redirects limited slots primarily toward Afrikaners from South Africa facing government-sponsored discrimination and violence while suspending broad refugee inflows that critics say strain U.S. resources and pose security risks.<\/p>\n

The decision builds on Trump\u2019s first-day executive order in January 2025, titled \u201cRealigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program,\u201d which indefinitely suspended the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) until it aligns with national interests.<\/p>\n

That order cited the program\u2019s burden on communities, potential security threats, and the need for rigorous vetting to ensure refugees can assimilate and contribute without compromising taxpayer resources or public safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cEntry into the United States of refugees under the USRAP would be detrimental to the interests of the United States,\u201d the order stated.<\/p>\n

The order directs the Department of Homeland Security and State Department to prioritize American citizens first.<\/p>\n

White House officials have emphasized that the sharp cut addresses years of unchecked migration under President Biden, which they argue flooded the system with inadequately screened individuals from high-risk regions.<\/p>\n

By October 30, 2025, the administration formalized the 7,500 cap, noting admissions would focus on \u201cvictims of illegal or unjust discrimination\u201d \u2014 explicitly highlighting white Afrikaner farmers in South Africa targeted amid land expropriation policies and rising violence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HBO \u201cReal Time\u201d host Bill Maher likes to tell people he\u2019s not a crazy leftist but a classic liberal in the 1960s mode. That said, he still manages, from time … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3655,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/checkthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/checkthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/checkthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/checkthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/checkthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3654"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/checkthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3656,"href":"https:\/\/checkthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3654\/revisions\/3656"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/checkthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/checkthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/checkthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/checkthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}