| | | | |  | | By Brakkton Booker | With help from Jesse Naranjo, Jesús Rodríguez, Rishika Dugyala and Teresa Wiltz
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Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) speaks to reporters on the House steps, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023, on Capitol Hill. | POLITICO illustration/Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo | What up, Recast family! The Biden administration condemns riots in Brazil by supporters of ex-President Jair Bolsonaro, the White House says it's cooperating with the Justice Department after the discovery of classified documents were found in Biden's post-vice presidential office. Plus, MAGA world is mourning the death of Ineitha Lynnette Hardaway, half of the pro-Trump duo Diamond and Silk. First, we review the good week for elevation of POC voices within the GOP. As Kevin McCarthy enters his first full week as speaker of the House, he's already cleared an early test of his leadership: passing an overhaul of the chamber's rules package Monday night. The Shakespearean melodrama surrounding Republicans' tortured selection of a House speaker rightly focused on McCarthy, but other GOP officials emerged in the fracas to grab some of the spotlight. Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), who just started his second term — and who is one of only four Black members of the conference — collected nearly two dozen votes in some ballots, blocking McCarthy from those votes. First-term Rep. John James of Michigan, another of the conference's handful of Black lawmakers, used his first floor speech to nominate McCarthy during the seventh round of voting.
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Rep. John James (R-Mich.) talks to Rep. Kevin McCarthy Thursday, Jan. 5, on the House floor after the seventh round of voting for the House speakership | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo | And on the tenth ballot, two Hispanic GOP newcomers got into the nominating action. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida nominated Donalds while Rep. Juan Ciscomani of Arizona nominated McCarthy. After the 15th and final speaker vote, Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), who is also in his second term, announced he was voting against his party's rules package, making him the only Republican who failed to vote for it. Meanwhile, far from the Beltway, there's Daniel Cameron, Kentucky's first Black attorney general, who announced he's formally seeking the GOP nomination for governor, taking on incumbent Democrat Andy Beshear. Cameron became a national figure in 2020, when he declined to prosecute Louisville police officers in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor in 2020.
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Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), right, speaks during a news conference Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022, on Capitol Hill. | Mariam Zuhaib/AP Photo | Taken together, it's a pivotal showcase for a party desperately trying to attract voters of color ahead of the 2024 presidential elections and beyond. Under the leadership of Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, the Republican National Committee "has invested millions in authentically engaging with Black Americans," Cecilia Johnson, RNC director of Black engagement, tells The Recast. Democrats have taken Black voters for granted for far too long, she argues. "The GOP's message is resonating because Republicans are focused on the issues that matter to Black families and the historic number of Black Republicans serving in Congress is only the start," Johnson says. "Republicans are putting down roots in the community, having conversations, and earning votes." Not all Republicans view the events of the past week as a watershed moment. "The truth is, the Republican Conference is more diverse than it ever has been. That's not saying a lot; the bar is incredibly low. And it's still not very diverse," said Mike Madrid, a longtime GOP political consultant who studies Latino voting trends. "Is it a conscious effort by the GOP to elevate these voices? Presumably, yes," says Madrid who has worked with McCarthy and is a co-founder of the anti-Trump group the Lincoln Project.
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| He warns that elevating elected officials of color may give the impression that the GOP enjoys a broader appeal among voters of color than the reality. While he sees improvement, he says the GOP base in his estimation remains about 80 percent white. (As a comparison, non-Hispanic white people account for 59 percent of the U.S. population.) Following the midterms, POLITICO reported that while the GOP made inroads with Black people, Latinos, as well as Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, the tilt to the right wasn't as pronounced as many analysts predicted. But Diante Johnson, the founder and president of the Black Conservative Federation, which works to elevate voices and issues impacting African Americans, pushes back on that characterization. Johnson says the upward trajectory of the GOP has begun. As he sees it, it's no coincidence that Donalds, whom he calls a friend, was nominated by some in the GOP conference for House speaker — even though some outside the party argue Republicans are using Donalds as a prop.
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Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) talks to GOP Florida Reps. Byron Donalds, top right, and Matt Gaetz, left, in the House chambers during the second day of elections for House speaker, Jan. 4, 2023, in the Capitol. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | Donalds, he points out, was actively involved in the negotiations that eventually led to McCarthy's speakership. "The American people wanted to make sure that we're able to hold our politicians accountable," Johnson said, "regardless of how high they are and regardless of where they are on the political food chain." Donalds said in an interview with Fox News over the weekend that he was being placed on the powerful GOP Steering committee, which votes on critical matters including committee assignments and chairmanships. As always, we'll be watching. All the best,
The Recast Team
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| Power dynamics are changing.With The Recast, you'll get a twice-weekly breakdown of how race and identity are the DNA of American politics and policy. Was this forwarded to you by a friend? Subscribe to the newsletter here.
| | | THE SPARE TELLS ALL
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A member of staff places the copies of the new book by Prince Harry called "Spare" at a book store in London, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023. | Kin Cheung/AP Photo | So… Prince Harry is spilling all the royal tea. There's so much to unpack here, and thanks to his exhaustive publicity tour, we're already privy to some of the most explosive details: the fisticuffs with his brother. His kill count in Afghanistan. The Palace's corrupt relationship with the tabloids. His father's casual joke that Harry might not be his son. His drug use. And even the frozen status of his, ahem, royal member. You could argue that Prince Harry's memoir "Spare," out today, is an act of royal bravery. You could also make just as convincing an argument that it's TMI. Maybe it's both. But as we've said before here in The Recast, the saga of Harry and Meghan, for all the drama, for all the oh-no-they-didn't, is ultimately a political story. And Harry's book is a calculated political act.
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Prince Harry, left, sits for an interview with "Good Morning America" co-host Michael Strahan in Los Angeles on Jan. 3, 2023, to promote his memoir "Spare." | Richard Harbaugh/ABC via AP | He's lobbing Molotov cocktails at what his mother, Princess Diana — no stranger to palace intrigue herself — once called "The Firm." After all, the British monarchy is the ultimate example of white supremacy, bought and paid for by mere commoners. Let's not forget that the Windsor wealth has its roots in centuries of colonialism and slavery. There's a reason the sun never set on the British Empire. That's because millions of Black and brown folks around the globe — the "commonwealth" — were deemed the "subjects" of the royal family. So by marrying a Black/biracial wife — an American and a divorcee just like Wallis Simpson, the other disrupter of the monarchy — Harry upset the royal apple cart. But what's not clear is if his literary projectile is merely a personal vendetta — or one intended to completely dismantle the system. Prince Harry is, after all, still a prince.
| | | DIAMOND DEAD AT 51
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Trump supporters and social media personalities Lynnette Hardaway, left, and Rochelle Richardson, center, known as Diamond and Silk, stand backstage and watch as President Donald Trump speaks at a rally at Resch Center Complex in Green Bay, Wis., Saturday, April 27, 2019. | AP | Ineitha Lynnette Hardaway,better known by her fans and detractors alike as Diamond, one half of the conservative vlogging duo Diamond and Silk, has died. She was 51. Her death was announced both on the duo's official Twitter page and by former President Donald Trump, who said her death was "totally unexpected" on his Truth Social platform. "The World just lost a True Angel and Warrior Patriot for Freedom, Love, and Humanity," according to a tweet Monday evening, while urging supporters to donate to a crowdfunding page in her honor.
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Twitter | The cause of her death was not immediately known. Trump said she died at her home in North Carolina with her sister Herneitha Rochelle Hardaway Richardson, aka Silk, by her side.
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Twitter | The pair, once lifelong Democrats, rose to prominence during Trump's first presidential run, carving out a niche audience for their full-throated embrace of Trumpism. The sisters, who made appearances with him at campaign rallies and in conservative media, were held up by the right as prominent Black figures who helped elevate the former president's populist message. Diamond and Silk leveraged their access and relationship with Trump to land contributor roles at Fox Nation. In 2020, the outlet cut ties with the duo after they questioned the seriousness of the spread of the coronavirus. The pair also testified at a House Judiciary Committee hearing in 2018, telling lawmakers, "We've been censored" by Facebook, which at the time had not notified them when it amended its terms of services for pages that earn money.
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| POLITICO reported at the time the hearing devolved into "partisan bickering and questions about whether they lied under oath." Separately, their names were attached to legislation sponsored by controversial former GOP Rep. Steve King of Iowa. The measure would have blocked federal funds to cities and jurisdictions that provided services and protections to undocumented persons and redirected the money to address homelessness. It was dubbed: "End Sanctuaries and Help Our American Homeless and Veterans Act or the Diamond and Silk Act." It was introduced, but never brought up for a vote.
| | | ICYMI @ POLITICO
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Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, right, talks with a member of her team May 2, 2022, during proceedings to seat a special purpose grand jury. | Ben Gray/AP Photo | Georgia Grand Jury Wraps Up Trump Probe — The Atlanta-area special grand jury looking into whether Donald Trump illegally sought to overturn the state's 2020 election results has concluded its probe. POLITICO's Kyle Cheney adds that the judge overseeing the proceedings set a Jan. 24 hearing to consider whether to unseal the panel's recommendations and findings. Biden and Brazil — Following violent demonstrations in Brazil that bore an eerie resemblance to Jan. 6,the White House announced President Joe Biden will host Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva next month. POLITICO's Nahal Toosi and Myah Ward explain Biden's invitation came as he was meeting with his Mexican and Canadian counterparts in Mexico. WATCH: Vice President Kamala Harris condemns attacks in Brazil
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| Colorado to Stop Sending Migrants to Chicago, NYC — Colorado's Democratic Gov. Jared Polis announced there will be no more chartered flights of migrants from the Centennial State to the Big Apple and the Windy City. POLITICO's Joe Anuta reports the process escalated into a public war of words among the governor and the Democratic mayors of Chicago and New York City.
| | | THE RECAST RECOMMENDS "1/6: The Graphic Novel," created by legal scholar Alan Jenkins and artist-activist Gan Golan, imagines a world in which the Capitol insurrection had been successful. Janelle Monáe stars in "Glass Onion," the movie that everyone is talking about, streaming on Netflix now. Get to know the singer-actor-writer in this new deep-dive Q&A. | 
| Jerrod Carmichael hosts this year's Golden Globes, tonight at 8 p.m. on NBC. The televised ceremony is back following last year's cancellation after the Awards were rocked by diversity scandals. Mexican American band Fuerza Régida releases its highly anticipated record, "Pa Que Hablen," alongside a surprise album, "Sigan Hablando." Check out their spanking new video, "Mi TERRE CLN."
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| If you're in D.C., check out Ari Voxx,who's kicking off a four-week residency at the capital's DC9 with a performance tomorrow, described as an "extra sad, extra stripped down" solo set. Smooky MarGielaa and A$AP Rocky team up on ballet-themed "Mamacita," and the music video is a retro masterpiece.
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| TikTok of the Day: Possessive
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