‘Not all Black people look alike’: Trump camp slammed for confusing Black male Biden staffers

The Republican National Committee, an arm of the Trump presidential campaign, misidentifies Biden’s communications director Michael Tyler for the campaign’s deputy campaign manager, Quentin Fulks.

The Biden-Harris campaign is hitting back at presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump’s camp after the Republican National Committee confused two senior Black male Biden staffers.

In a post on X, the RNC, an arm of the Trump presidential campaign, posted a video clip of the Biden-Harris campaign’s communications director, Michael Tyler, saying that the U.S. economy performed better under President Joe Biden than under Trump, his predecessor and 2024 election opponent.

However, RNC’s research division credits the assessment to Quentin Fulks, Biden’s principal deputy campaign manager. 

“Junior spokesman Quentin Fulks claims ‘Biden comes out on top’ with his economic record,” reads the post from RNC. “Under Biden, inflation has averaged 5.6%, real average weekly earnings are down 4.2%, and average gas prices have been above $3/gallon for 1056 days.

The post continued, “Under President Trump, inflation averaged 1.9%, real average weekly earnings were up 8.2%, and average gas prices never went above $3/gallon.”

Biden-Harris campaign officials quickly seized on the identity faux pas from team Trump, which eventually took down the post before posting another properly identifying Tyler, a former chief of staff and national press secretary for the Democratic National Committee. Tyler also served on the 2020 presidential campaign of Sen. Cory Booker and the 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns of former President Barack Obama. 

“Tweet & delete won’t work. The shameless racism continues,” said Jasmine Harris, director of Black media at the Biden-Harris campaign. 

Seemingly addressing the RNC’s reference to Fulks and Tyler as “junior” campaign officials, Harris continued, “I don’t know how many times Trump & maga republicans need to be reminded that not all Black people look alike. Especially not the two Black men helping LEAD this campaign.”

Ammar Moussa, Biden’s campaign director of rapid response, also reacted on X, writing, “Ah the RNC can’t tell the difference between two senior Black staffers on one campaign. Wonder why.”

Antjuan Seawright, a Democratic strategist and CEO of Blueprint Strategy LLC, told theGrio that he believes the RNC’s confusing Tyler for Fulks, the former campaign manager credited for Sen. Raphael Warnock’s crucial reelection in 2022, was telling. 

“There’s always been this adage that there’s some who think that all Black folks look alike, but in this case, I think they believe that all successful Black men look alike because that’s what arguably Quentin Fulks and Michael Tyler represent,” said Seawright, a close adviser to the longest-serving Black member of Congress, Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C.

“They represent young, Black, gifted, and successful, and there are a lot of people who have trouble with that,” he added.

Seawright said some within the Republican Party want to “demonize” Black excellence and “use it as an opportunity to generate fear, frustration and confusion.” 

The intent, he argued is to “amplify a certain set of a population who don’t believe that Quentin Fulks, Michael Tyler, or anyone else who looks like them or have shared values, should be at the table but instead believe they should be on the menu.”

Gerren Keith Gaynor is a White House Correspondent and the Managing Editor of Politics at theGrio. He is based in Washington, D.C.

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