(Headline USA) A House Democrat was forced to apologize this week after using an inappropriate racial slur for black people during a hearing on tax policy.
Rep. David Trone, D-Md., who is the current Democrat frontrunner in what will likely be a tight race for the U.S. Senate this November, dropped the disparaging term for black people in an attempted dig at Republicans.
“So this Republican j****oo that—it’s the tax rate that’s stopping business investment, it’s just completely faulty by people who have never run a business,” he said during the hearing. “They’ve never been there. They don’t have a clue what they’re talking about.”
At the moment, he appeared to be addressing his remarks to Shalanda Young, a director of the Office of Management and Budget, who is black.
After facing backlash for the inappropriate remark, Trone claimed he meant to use the word “bugaboo” instead, meaning an imaginary object of fear or alarm.
“Today while attempting to use the word ‘bugaboo’ in a hearing, I used a phrase that is offensive,” he said in a statement, according to the Daily Mail.
“That word has a long dark terrible history,” he continued. “It should never be used any time, anywhere, in any conversation.”
Sounding almost like a hostage under coercion, Trone then shifted into the requisite Democrat disclaimers that have become a standard part of the form apology for all such racist accidents.
I recognize that as a white man, I have privilege,” he said.
“And as an elected official, I have a responsibility for the words I use—especially in the heat of the moment,” he added. “Regardless of what I meant to say, I shouldn’t have used that language.”
Trone also faced heat earlier this month for comments he made about illegal immigration.
“We need to welcome all 12 million folks here now that are DACA, TPS, and undocumented—make them citizens, and move forward,” he said, advocating for a controversially radical amnesty plan.
“They have all the rights everybody here should have also,” he reportedly said during a candidate forum.
The Maryland Democrat, who made his fortune as the co-founder and co-owner of Total Wine & More, also attracted attention from law enforcement last year afte rhe allegedly threatened to “f***ing end” and “execute” his colleague Hunter Olsen.
Trone faces a crowded Democrat primary field but has said he is willing to spend millions of dollars from his own fortune to secure the party’s nomination. If he succeeds, he will likely face former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan in the general election.
