Democrat Senator Tammy Duckworth (IL) was slammed on Tuesday for remarks about President Joe Biden’s nominees that were widely panned as racist and bigoted.
“I am a no vote on the floor, on all non diversity nominees,” Duckworth said. “You know, I will vote for racial minorities and I will vote for LGBTQ. But anybody else I’m not voting for.”
The New York Post reported:
Duckworth said she made her decision after White House deputy chief of staff Jennifer O’Malley Dillon made an “incredibly insulting” remark Monday evening after Biden spoke on a webcast with Senate Democrats.
Dillon, Biden’s 2020 campaign manager, allegedly suggested to Duckworth that Asian-Americans should be content with Vice President Kamala Harris’ role. Harris is biracial; her mother was born in India and her father is black and from Jamaica.
“To be told that, ‘Well, you have Kamala Harris, we’re very proud of her, you don’t need anybody else’ is insulting… last night, that was the trigger for me,” Duckworth said. “But multiple times I’ve heard that. And that’s not something you would say to the black caucus, ‘Well, you have Kamala, we’re not going to put any more African-Americans in the cabinet because you have Kamala.’”
Patrice Lee Onwuka, director of Independent Women’s Forum, responded to Duckworth’s remarks by writing: “This is disgusting. I am a black woman and I don’t believe that senators should approve or deny cabinet nominees based on their skin color. That is not progress but racism.”
This is disgusting. I am a black woman and I don’t believe that senators should approve or deny cabinet nominees based on their skin color. That👏🏾 is 👏🏾 not 👏🏾 progress👏🏾 but 👏🏾 racism.
— Patrice Lee Onwuka 🇫🇰🇺🇸 (@PatricePinkFile) March 23, 2021
Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) responded by writing: “Remember when ‘I won’t support someone because of their skin color’ used to be racist?”
A) From the pool. Dem IL Sen Duckworth on effort to get more diverse nominees: "I am a no vote on the floor, on all non diversity nominees. You know, I will vote for racial minorities and I will vote for LGBTQ. But anybody else I'm not voting for."
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) March 23, 2021
Seattle-based conservative radio host Jason Rantz wrote: “When you’re a Democrat, you’re encouraged to tokenize people and shout your racism and bigotry.”
When you're a Democrat, you're encouraged to tokenize people and shout your racism and bigotry. https://t.co/N3SQ39kbLK
— (((Jason Rantz))) on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) March 23, 2021
“Duckworth is a vile disgusting bigot, a disgrace to the country, and a blathering moron on top of it. But at least she’s honest about it,” Daily Wire podcast host Matt Walsh wrote. “She should be removed from the senate for her professed racism. Also because she’s an incompetent goon.”
She should be removed from the senate for her professed racism. Also because she's an incompetent goon.
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) March 23, 2021
Ben Shapiro, host of “The Ben Shapiro Show” and Daily Wire Editor Emeritus, responded to Duckworth’s remarks by tweeting: “This is called racism.”
This is called racism https://t.co/VTCC57cFun
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) March 23, 2021
Sen. Tom Cotton responded to Duckworth’s controversial remarks by writing: “It’s disappointing but not surprising that the Democrats’ obsession with identity politics has come to this: U.S. Senators openly acknowledge voting for or against nominees based solely on their race.”
“Imagine the scandal—and rightly so!—if a Republican senator announced he would only vote for nominees of certain races,” Cotton said. “We’ve gone pretty far down the road from judging people by the content of their character and not the color of their skin.”
We've gone pretty far down the road from judging people by the content of their character and not the color of their skin.
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) March 24, 2021
Former CIA officer Bryan Dean Wright, who announced he was leaving the Democratic Party in February, responded to Duckworth’s remarks by writing: “Sen. Duckworth is a whisker away from demanding the whites drink at a separate fountain.”
Sen. Duckworth is a whisker away from demanding the whites drink at a separate fountain. https://t.co/WeWUWnt02r
— BDW (@BryanDeanWright) March 24, 2021