Michigan Democrat Party Chair: ‘If You Support Donald Trump, You Are a Racist’

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Michigan Democrat Chair Lavora Barnes
Lavora Barnes/Facebook
Kyle Olson

The chairwoman of the Michigan Democrat Party (MDP) condemned all supporters of Donald Trump as “racist” during a Sunday tirade.

On the same day rioters attacked businesses and even Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office building in downtown Lansing, MDP chair Lavora Barnes smeared Trump’s backers.

In a statement titled, “The Time for Silence is Over,” Barnes warned the tactics Democrats are using do not “seem to be working” before she attacked Trump’s supporters.

“If you support Donald Trump, you are a racist. Here is where it gets tricky and uncomfortable,” she said.

“Donald Trump is a racist, and if being a racist is not a dealbreaker for you, you are the reason Black people are being murdered for being Black.”

Barnes claimed it “is time to challenge, time to have uncomfortable conversations with people that are not ready to have them. It is time to risk some friendships, time to make waves at work, time to recognize that we are past politics now.”

She proposed a new system of justice:

Here is what I want to see: I want the economic oppression of Black communities to stop, including holding the oppressors accountable. I want meaningful criminal justice reform. And I want law enforcement to actually do their jobs and prosecute hate crimes, and when law enforcement participates in racist conduct I want them held accountable — not by the prosecutors and colleagues they work with every day, but by an independent body, that they hold no sway over.

In 2019, Barnes praised Whitmer on Twitter, saying, “The state of our state is trending up and the future looks very bright with Governor Gretchen Whitmer now in the driver’s seat!”

On Monday, Whitmer refused to condemn the rioters who attacked the governor’s office building in Lansing.

“There were certainly a lot of demonstrators who peacefully protested, who were organizing and focused on solving problems,” Whitmer told WLNS.

“And then there were others that I think who came in under the guise of supporting that but were actually more intent on creating harm, and I think that undermines the work that we need in this country and I’m hopeful we don’t see more of it.”

Looking exasperated, Whitmer said, “We’re working our way through a global pandemic. We had a 500-year flood on top of it, and of course, this is years in the making of abuse and sadness.”

“And so, I think the prevailing reaction is sadness, and it’s got to be determination. We owe it to everyone in this state and in this country to do better…”

Kyle Olson is a reporter for Breitbart News. He is also host of “The Kyle Olson Show,” syndicated on Michigan radio stations on Saturdays. Listen to segments on YouTube. Follow him on Twitter and like him on Facebook.

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