Joy Reid dismisses Byron Donalds nomination as 'troll' move that he was willing to 'go along with'

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Joy Reid: Byron Donalds nomination a 'troll' move by the GOP

MSNBC host Joy Reid accused Republicans of "trolling" the House Speaker vote by nominating Rep-elect Byron Donalds as an alternative to Kevin McCarthy.

MSNBC’s Joy Reid became the latest liberal figure to attack Florida Rep-elect Byron Donalds’ nomination to become Speaker of the House on Wednesday.

For the second day in a row, the House of Representatives failed to secure enough votes to elect a House speaker with over 20 Republicans refusing to vote in favor of Rep-elect Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. One of the alternative nominations for a GOP leader included Donalds, who was pushed by Rep-elect Chip Roy, R-Texas.

Though many celebrated the move with Donalds becoming the second Black congressman to be nominated to the position behind Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Reid criticized the nomination on "The ReidOut" as a "troll" move by Roy and lamented Donalds being a willing participant.

Joy Reid discusses the Speaker of the House vote on MSNBC's "The ReidOut."  (MSNBC)

"Their plan is to just keep switching from alternative to alternative. They first tried to go with Jim Jordan, but Jim Jordan is in with McCarthy. And today they did this sort of, not in a surprising move, went with a Black guy with Chip Roy standing up and saying all sorts of things about Martin Luther King quotes and some of them were talking Frederick Douglass. This to me felt like a full troll and this guy was willing to go along with it," Reid said.

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She added, "So now that they’ve done that, maybe tomorrow they’ll come up with a different person and have a whole new theme of a person that’s not Kevin McCarthy."

Reid has in the past criticized Black conservatives for their policy positions and participation in the Republican Party.

In 2021, she accused Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., of being a diversity prop for Republicans. 

"You've got to love Tim Scott standing there to provide the patina of diversity over that round of words, that basket full of words," Reid said at the time.

In 2012, Reid wrote an "open letter" to Scott upon his appointment to the U.S. Senate, urging him not to become a "token" for conservatives.

Reid also used a slur against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who is African American, calling him "Uncle Clarence," a reference to the 'Uncle Tom’ stereotype, during her election coverage back in November and subsequent tweets.

Byron Donalds was nominated as Speaker of the House by Rep-elect Chip Roy. (Fox News)

Rep-elect Cori Bush, D-Mo., similarly dismissed the idea of Donalds’ nomination, claiming that his candidacy is not historic because he was being used as a "prop" to promote "White supremacy."

"[For what it’s worth], [Donalds] is not a historic candidate for Speaker. He is a prop," Bush tweeted. "Despite being Black, he supports a policy agenda intent on upholding and perpetuating white supremacy. His name being in the mix is not progress—it’s pathetic."

In a separate segment of the show, Lincoln Project advisor Stuart Stevens advised Republicans to support a Democratic candidate for Speaker of the House.

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"So, look, I think that where we are now is when people that want to save the Republican Party for what it is, they have to sort of come to grips with reality and have to be willing to vote for Democrats who may disagree with them on certain issues because otherwise this insanity is going to continue. It is only going to stop when they feel pain, and pain is loss in politics. You have to beat these people. You can’t convert them, can’t speak logic to them in that sense because they don’t care about anything, so these are people that you have to just burn this to the ground," Stevens said.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., arrives at the Capitol as the House meets for a second day to elect a speaker and convene the 118th Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

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So far, all House Democrats have stood firm in voting for Jeffries as their candidate for House speaker. 

Fox News' Nik Lanum contributed to this report.