New York Times editorial board member Mara Gay is attributing Sen. Ron Johnsonâs (R-Wis.) comments about Black Lives Matter to former President Donald Trumpâs behavior.
âWe have Donald Trump to thank for this wonderfully disgusting and grotesque outpouring of open racism, the likes of which we really havenât seen in this country in a mainstream cultural sense, I would say, since the 1950s, if not the 1920s,â Gay said during an appearance on MSNBCâs âMorning Joeâ Tuesday.
She added, âIf you ask any black American of any age, they will tell you that what it means to be a black American is sometimes just to be gaslit by the rest of the country, to be told, âYou arenât seeing whatâs in front of your face.'â
Gay explained Black Americans are told, despite being âoppressed for generations,â they are the threat.
Watch her remarks below:
âYou can literally have a white mob attack the seat of democracy, bash the heads of police officers, and still, you are the threat because youâre black,â Gay continued.
She added, âIt is the blackness and the whiteness that is just the screaming elephant in the room in this case, and I think weâre really confronted now with the fact that a majority of the country, not just Black Americans, is now being gaslit.â
Gay argued when politicians are âdesperate for powerâ they âturn to racism.â
âThis is really a sign, in my opinion, of the desperation of the Republican Party in this moment. This is really the easiest, lowest hanging fruit: When all else fails, blame black people,â Gay said.
Johnson said during an interview on âThe Joe Pags Showâ podcast he may have felt more threatened during the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 if it were âBlack Lives Matter and antifa protestersâ storming the building, as IJR reported.
Johnson later told WISN-AM âthereâs no racism involvedâ in his remark.
âIt has nothing to do with race. It has everything to do with riots,â Johnson said. âI completely did not anticipate that anybody could interpret what I said as racist. Itâs not.â