Rep. David Trone (D., Md.) landed in hot water late last month after he used the racial slur "jigaboo" during an exchange with Republicans over tax rates on the House floor.
"This Republican jigaboo that, you know, it’s a tax rate that’s stopping business investment, that’s just completely faulty by people who have never run a business," Trone said. "They’ve never been there."
Trone apologized for the incident, claiming he meant to say "bugaboo," and insisting that he had never heard the slur before. But his apology came too late to avoid damage to his Senate campaign: A number of Maryland Democrats, including Rep. Jamie Raskin, endorsed Trone’s primary opponent, Prince George’s County executive Angela Alsobrooks.
Trone is hardly the first politician to find himself in such a situation. Whether it’s getting caught wearing black face or rattling off racial slurs on a radio show, the Total Wine CEO has a long list of people who could advise him on how to move on.
Former Sen. George Allen (R., Va.), who lost his 2006 reelection bid after referring to an Indian man as a "macaca" on the campaign trail, told the Free Beacon he was surprised and delighted by Trone’s choice of words.
"I hadn’t heard that word since I was a kid. Nowadays, people just aren’t that creative with racial slurs. It’s just n-word this, n-word, that. No respect for history, nor the art of racism. If voters are smart, they’ll give Trone his credit for this inspired move."
President Joe Biden, who also holds racial animus against Indian people, told the Free Beacon, "You guys are always bothering me with questions about Hunter, but when Susan [Rice] woke me up and said Harry Potter is asking about Jigaboo, I jumped on the phone." He added, "I knew Jigaboo, hell, everyone in Wilmington knew Jigaboo. I can tell you how he got that name. It all started back in 1907 when [unintelligible]."
"Look, point is, the reason I’m telling you about this is that Daniel Trone has nothing to worry about," the president continued. "He’s a good kid, and frankly, I’ve called Republicans a lot worse. Just today I told Jill, you know, that Trump is a real [phone disconnects]."
The Free Beacon consulted a Ouija board and reached the Ghost of Harry Reid (D., Nev.), who once complimented former president Barack Obama on his lack of "Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one."
"I was just telling Richard Trumka that the heat down here is nothing compared to Nevada summers," Reid told the Free Beacon before lamenting that he was not, in fact, given his own planet in the afterlife.
Reached for comment on the issue, civil rights leader and erstwhile Democratic presidential candidate Rev. Jesse Jackson told the Free Beacon to "go back to Hymietown," saying he wasn't "going to talk about racial slurs with a damn cracker."
Editor's Note: Today is April 1, 2024.