FAIRBURN, Ga. — While delegates. Wesley Hunt from Texas and Byron Donalds from Florida kicked off the latest iteration of their “Congress, Cognac and Cigars” event, aimed at bringing more black men into the Republican fold here just outside Atlanta, the two Donald Trump allies determined their intentions for the conversation.
“We just want you to listen to us,” said Hunt, who insisted the audience did not have to agree with everything they said and would have a chance to express their own opinions.
Throughout the roughly two-hour conversation, moderated by the former ESPN host and conservative podcaster Wise Steele in a cigar lounge filled with a diverse, but predominantly black audience, several black men seized their opportunity.
Donalds and Hunt were repeatedly challenged by various attendees over their legislative records, their positions on immigration and reparations, and their unwavering support for Trump. The dialogue became contentious at times, with various audience members accusing the lawmakers at various points of repeating common Republican talking points or deviating from issues of concern.
The event highlighted the challenges Trump’s Black allies may face as they try to win over independent or traditionally Democratic voters in cities like Atlanta, some of whom remain skeptical of the Republican Party despite its efforts to more aggressively target voters of color to be brought to justice.
The discussion began with Donalds and Hunt urging the audience to leave the Democratic Party, arguing that President Biden and Vice President Harris “do not have the recipe for success in this country.”
But toward the second half of the event, the atmosphere turned contentious as Steele asked the audience about the top topics they would like to hear members of Congress discuss. Among them were immigration, national security and “morality”.
Jason R., a retired, college-educated black husband and father who declined to give his last name, sheds light on what “morals” refers to.
“A local representative has introduced an amendment to the defense bill to restore a Confederate monument depicting a ‘mammy’ receiving a white baby from a Confederate soldier,” he began. “Of the four black Republicans, three voted ‘yay’ for That.”
“It seems misleading to come here and talk about issues and then vote on something that is seemingly not based on principle,” Jason said.
Hunt responded by sharing an anecdote about several members of his family, including himself, who attended West Point Military Academy. Hunt said he saw value in staying at the “Robert E. Lee Barracks.”
“Only in America can you have three black children graduate from the greatest leadership institution in the world, graduate from there and live in a barracks named after a Confederate general,” Hunt said. “If it were called something else. I wouldn’t have that perspective.”
Donalds was also called out for a controversial comment he made during the Philadelphia stop of the “Congress, Cognac and Cigars” tour, in which he claimed the Black family was stronger during Jim Crow.
“You can talk about the black family, you can talk about the black father, but when you weave Jim Crow into that, you drive people away,” Richard Wright said at the event on Wednesday.
Donalds insisted his comments were misrepresented, saying he was referring to “empirical data” from the period that pointed to higher marriage rates among black Americans.
“No one wants Jim Crow to return,” Donalds said. “We were talking about black families and I was referring to an era.”
Donalds claimed the negative reactions to his comment were a result of Biden’s campaign considering him as a vice presidential candidate for Trump.
“We’re in the middle of the presidential election, let’s call it what it is. Yes, I’m on the shortlist for the vice presidency,” Donalds said. “The reason why my comments were taken that way is because the Joe Biden campaign, which has no answer to what is really hurting Black Americans today, wanted to take my words and twist my words to say that I wanted that Jim Crow returned. That’s crazy talk, I don’t want that.”
The responses did not assuage the palpable frustration among some attendees. One participant Mike M., who declined to give his last name, is a graduate of Emory University and is not affiliated with any specific party. He strongly pointed out that Donalds himself made the comment and “tried to blame everyone else.”
“You don’t have to invoke Jim Crow to make your point,” he said.
When the conversation turned to immigration, several attendees joined the conversation as Republican lawmakers criticized Biden over security at the southern border.
One attendee, Allen Hill, asked, “What are you going to do to solve this problem?” and objected when Donald Trump responded with Republican proposals to close the border, restrict asylum processing, and use ICE to carry out mass deportations. Audience members were framed as “Republican talking points.”
“That’s not an answer, it’s a story,” Hill said.
Donalds and Hunt did have supporters in the audience: One, Horace Holland Jr., grew tired of other audience members’ questions about immigration and argued forcefully that the conversation should focus on the plight of black Americans rather than undocumented citizens.
“Why are you more concerned about people coming in illegally and getting amnesty, when a black man can stay on the run for 20 years, but when they find him, he doesn’t get amnesty!” Holland said.
Another point of contention concerned reparations.
“I’ll tell you, I don’t believe in reparations,” Donald began.
“Then you don’t understand the black community,” Hill responded.
Donald tried to explain his position.
“When you talk about reparations today, you’re talking about taking money from other Americans,” Donalds said. “You’re asking Americans today and in the future to pay that bill. Is it their bill … to pay?”
While Donalds and Hunt appeared to have a fair number of supporters in the room, few were as vocal as the dozen or so attendees who intervened several times during the event to challenge the two, some of whom later told NBC News said they do not identify as Democrats. or Republicans, but rather as ‘conservatives’.
“I think we made some points, we took some frustrations out and we got the things out there that we wanted to communicate for people who came here and said they wanted to have an honest conversation with black men in the Atlanta community,” Jason R. said of the event.
Hunt and Donalds also said they gained valuable insights from the discourse, emphasizing that they would continue to travel to cities with large black populations to connect with voters.
“I know we have some passionate people here. There are some Democrats here, there are some people who disagree with us,” Hunt said. “What we didn’t want to do when we had 50 percent of black Republicans in the halls of Congress was not be here. That’s the worst thing we could ever do, not show up.”
“We can have those disagreements, that’s okay. But as we leave this room, I understand your position, you understand mine, we respect each other’s differences, we move forward, we build better, we do better – that’s what really matters,” Donalds added.
Hunt said the two plan to bring their “Congress, Cognac and Cigars” event to Milwaukee closer to the Republican National Convention in July.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
