Donald Trump is winding down his cabinet appointments and top staff positions. One name conspicuous in its absence is Florida Rep. Byron Donalds. Donalds was the first Black representative from the Republican Party to receive votes for Speaker of the House. They would never make him the Speaker; he only got to sniff power in the Party. That whiff propelled him to go all in for Trump and his MAGA cohorts.
Donalds got his start in the Tea Party movement but was an unlikely candidate because of his criminal record. In 1997, he was charged with marijuana possession, but the charges were dropped as part of a pre-trial diversion program, and he was fined $150. In 2000, he pleaded no contest to a felony theft charge for allegedly attempting to defraud a bank (by depositing a bad check); his record was later sealed and expunged. Somebody was looking out for Donalds as usually, a convicted felon in Florida can’t get their record erased as Donalds did. Donalds had been arrested with intent to distribute; he was a drug dealer. Donald's first wife told reporters what was going on at that time.
“We had so much fun together," said Bisa Hall. "At that time he was the greatest thing ever. He didn’t have anything to give me, his family wasn’t well off, but he was my first love. He was rough around the edges. There’s a polish there now that wasn’t there before. He would talk about how he grew up in a bad neighborhood and talk about how his family was poor. He had charm, but it was street charm. What he lacked was money.
"The shininess of your relationship kind of falls off after a while. You realize that person stinks sometimes and isn’t always awesome. You don’t like to pay all the bills. He was always complaining about how he didn’t have any money.
“We had this neighbor who sold drugs, and they got close. Byron thought that was his path to fix his money situation. He was making bad choices. It never made sense to me why he did it. I had a level of concern. I had to worry, ‘What if he got arrested?’”
Donalds latched onto the right wing of the Republican Party and rode it into a seat in Congress. To those who knew of his record, he downplayed his role as a drug dealer, insisting his possession was for personal use. In 2016, he was elected to the Florida House of Representatives. Despite his previous arrest for depositing a fraudulent check, he was appointed to the Insurance and Banking Subcommittee and later became its chairman.
In 2020, he won a Congressional seat, probably thinking he’d escaped his past. He was a member of Congress, not a quiet backbencher, just happy to be there, but an outspoken MAGA member who happened to be Black. Given its lack of Black leadership figures, he made the Party look better than it otherwise would. The Senate had Tim Scott to proclaim, “America Is Not a Racist Country,” and the House had Byron Donalds.
During Trump’s 2024 campaign, Byron Donalds was highly visible in his support for Trump. Donalds defended every lie and was one of his earliest backers in April 2023.
“There is only one leader at this time in our nation’s history who can seize the moment and deliver what we need — to get us back on track, provide strength and resolve, and Make America Great Again," said Donalds. "That is why I’m honored to endorse President Donald J. Trump for President in 2024, and I ask my fellow Americans to join me.”
Donalds answered Trump’s every call to appear on the campaign trail on his behalf. Whatever outrage or gaffe Trump committed, Donalds was there to explain it away. When the time came for Trump to reward his unwavering support, he refused to appoint Donalds to anything. The excuse not to bring Donalds on was his expunged criminal record. There’s another matter of Donalds failing to disclose $1.6 million in stock trades. It looks like he’s finally solved those money problems.
You would think a criminal record would be the least of Trump’s concerns given that he is a convicted felon and has been found liable for sexual assault that the judge clarified was rape. Trump has had no problem nominating Matt Gaetz, who a House Ethics Committee has documented sex trafficking and paying for sex for several women, including a minor. They literally have the Venmo receipts, but Trump wanted to push through with his nomination.
Pete Hegseth has been nominated for Defense Secretary despite having paid a woman not to disclose how she was drugged and raped at a hotel. Hegseth says he settled the case for fear of losing his job at Fox News. He has no such concern about working for Trump’s government.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr has been accused of groping his nanny; he said he “doesn’t remember.” Elon Musk has been sued by eight women who worked for him because of the hostile work environment. The suit alleges that Musk and his company treated women “as sexual objects to be evaluated on their bra size.” Testimony against Gaetz includes drug use and distribution of drugs at parties. And his best friend and wingman went to jail for eleven years.
For all the crimes and misconduct committed by others Trump has appointed, Donald's misdeeds in his youth were too much. Of course, they are applying a different standard to him that the others Trump had no problem with. Donald's and Tim Scott can find a quiet corner somewhere and determine why.
This article originally appeared on Medium and is edited and republished with author's permission. Read more of William Spivey's work on Medium.