Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Florida) on Tuesday criticized GOP claims that Vice President Harris is in her role because she is a “DEI contractor,” saying it is a cover-up for a racial slur and between “racist dog whistles” being used against her.
“Whenever you hear DEI, I want you to think of the N-word. I want you to think of racial slurs. That’s what they really mean,” Frost said during an interview with CNN on Tuesday.
CNN anchor Jim Acosta asked Frost whether Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) — who called Harris a “DEI hire” a day earlier, referring to diversity, equity and inclusion — was being racist when made this comment.
“I have a good relationship with the congressman. I think sometimes, though, he uses racist rhetoric. And whether people know it’s racist or not, I’m here to tell them that it’s racist. And I hope they win.” Don’t use that rhetoric anymore,” Frost responded.
Burchett weighed in Monday on Biden’s withdrawal from the race and Harris’ endorsement, writing in X, “The level of incompetence is at an all-time high in Washington. The media supported this president, lied to the American people for three years, and then replaced him with our DEI vice president.”
Harris quickly received broad support from several Democrats and secured enough delegate support for the Democratic presidential nomination just one day after the official launch of her presidential campaign.
“They want to call her [Harris] a DEI president, a DEI candidate. She has more experience than [former President] Trump and JD Vance, combined. Times a million, right?” Frost added. “She won at the state level. She was the attorney general. She was vice president of the United States. She was a senator representing one of the largest states in the entire country. And so these are just racist dog whistles.”
In a previous interview with CNN on Monday, Burchett questioned Biden’s vice presidential selection process and its outcome. He argued that Trump would now perform better with Harris at the top of the Democratic ticket.
“Biden said he’s going to hire a black woman as vice president,” Burchett said. “What about white women? What about any other group?” When you follow that path, you follow mediocrity and that is what they have now as vice president.”
Burchett was then asked directly if he believed Harris was in her job because of DEI, to which he said, “100 percent she was hired for DEI.”
When asked about Frost’s comments, a spokesperson for Burchett said the congressman is “using President Biden’s own words.”
The spokesperson pointed to aBiden’s comment in Maywhen he said, “The values of diversity, equity and inclusion are America’s core strength. That’s why I’m proud to have the most diverse administration in history to tap into all of our country’s talents.”
The Tennessee Republican first made the DEI argument before Biden dropped out, repeatedly claiming that Harris was chosen as Biden’s running mate because of her racial and gender identity.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
