They were familiar faces during President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, and now popular YouTube stars Lynette Hardaway and Rochelle Richardson — otherwise known as Diamond and Silk, are trending on the social media once again.
It’s All About The Money…And The Trump Campaign
That’s because they recently appeared on the U.S. Commerce Department’s Twitter feed when the department invited them to its headquarters to discuss ways to expand their business, Black Main Street reports. And the department revealed this by posting a photo on its official Twitter account. The tweet was spotted by Gizmodo Monday and subsequently removed early Tuesday. Fortunately, a number of sites took screenshots:
And while they were there, Diamond and Silk met with the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) to “discuss how to grow their business and build their brand.”
A Commerce Department spokesperson said the tweet was deleted because department heads weren’t certain if they had permission to post the photo. The spokesperson noted:
“Diamond and Silk were here to talk about minority business development. They reached out to the Acting National Director of MBDA, [whom] they met previously, to discuss how best to help the minority business community.”
Currently the duo runs a pro-Trump blog in which they promote him and attack his rivals. They also hawk some rather tacky pins emblazoned with “Women united for Trump” slogans.
Hardaway and Richardson describe themselves as “President Trump’s most outspoken and loyal supporters” and they’ve become a regular feature on conservative pro-Trump media outlets, Newsweek reports.
Earlier this month, they appeared on Fox & Friends to discuss recent revelations in the Russia investigations. The probe is an attempt to determine whether the campaign colluded with Russia to throw the 2016 election.
During the conversation, Hardaway had this to say:
“He is about to be railroaded. Listen, we all know it was no Russia, Russia, Russia. How about pushing jobs, jobs, jobs?”
She added that saying Trump won because his campaign colluded with Russia is “a slap in the American people’s face.”
Diamond and Silk also appeared on Sean Hannity’s radio show, and have been doing a segment called “Final Word” on Hannity’s Fox News show for the last couple of weeks.
All along, the Trump campaign has denied it was paying the two women to appear on stage at Trump’s rallies, but according to a report by the Federal Election Commission, records show that Hardaway and Richardson were paid $1,274 by the campaign in November 2016. A rather paltry amount, to be sure, but a direction contradiction to what the Trump campaign maintains.
The women campaigned in Iowa, Mississippi and South Carolina. It’s not clear if they were paid for these events.
At a campaign stop in Iowa in 2016, Trump introduced Diamond and Silk as two women who have become “very famous and very rich.” A reporter from Politico asked Diamond what Trump meant. Her response?
“Ask Donald.”
These two have become darlings of the conservative media, having made numerous appearances on Hannity’s Fox News show, and they were even among the guests at White House political aide Omarosa Manigualt’s wedding. That shindig occurred at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, Newsweek reports.
Other than the fact that these two ladies were paid a little bit by the Trump campaign, I can’t figure out why any person of color would support this man. He’s a huge racist who’s done far more harm than good, as the recent violent and racially-charged rally by white nationalists shows.
Watch the video below to find out if Diamond and Silk think confederate statues should be removed.
Featured Image via YouTube Video.
