You’ve probably never heard of Paul Mecurio. I didn’t. I had to look up his credentials for this article. He’s a white comedian who has worked as a joke writer for Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart. On Wednesday night, he was on CNN's NewsNight. For reasons that only make sense to the left, this white boy thought he was the right person to lecture a black Republican on race in America.
It went as well for him as you'd expect.
The segment started with Republican strategist Shermichael Singleton pushing back on the broad-brush claim that the entire Republican Party is racist.
"My issue is calling the entire Republican Party racist, every single person that voted Republican," Singleton, who is black, said. "I mean, just like, come on, that sounds like B.S. And I can't say what I really want to say, but it sounds like B.S."
Host Abby Phillip jumped in to accuse the Trump administration of being "explicitly anti-diversity," but Singleton didn’t bother acknowledging her accusation.
His point was simpler: You can't paint 74 million voters with the same brush. "It's fine to be critical of Trump. It's fine to be critical of the administration, but you cannot cast aspersions as if it's entire party."
That's when Mecurio decided to weigh in.
"Listen, the vast majority of the party supports everything he does, including this, okay?" Mecurio said, apparently thinking that settled the matter.
"I just don't agree with that,” Singleton said.
Mecurio pressed on anyway, “What we shouldn't do is sit here and pretend that the facts aren't the facts, okay? Why isn't a flag at half-staff for Jesse Jackson? You wrote an amazing book about Jesse Jackson, who was instrumental in changing the way the Democratic Party pulled in minorities, and there's not a flag for this guy.”
Joe Biden didn’t lower the flags for Rush Limbaugh when he passed either. Just saying.
Regardless, not lowering the flags to half-staff for someone controversial like Jesse Jackson doesn’t make Trump racist, let alone the entire party. It was a stupid point to make. Nevertheless, Mecurio then pivoted to polling data on black voter support for Trump.
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“The point is that it's very simple for the average guy and woman sitting at home, they look at a pattern of behavior of any human being and say that's what that guy is. Trump has gone from 30% to 13.5% black voter support in the last year. Do you know why he's doing the slavery thing in Philadelphia? One more second—”
That’s when Singleton interjected, “I don't need to be lectured on electoral politics.”
"I'm not lecturing, but I should be able — the fact that you're an African American doesn't mean that I can't make this point. That's not fair. You're trying to manipulate the conversation. I'm not going to let you do that."
A white comedian told a black man that invoking his own racial identity was "manipulating the conversation,” even though not once did Singleton play the race card.
To make matters worse, Mecurio then refused to let Singleton speak.
Mecurio then wrapped up with his grand theory: "When he does all of these things and people see it, he doesn't care in the second term because he doesn't need the black vote anymore because he is not running again."
SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON: I'm a strategist, I don't need to be lectured about electoral politics.
— Thomas Hern (@ThomasMHern) February 19, 2026
PAUL MECURIO: The fact that you're an African American doesn't mean that I can't make this point.
Absolutely insane interaction on CNN tonight. pic.twitter.com/GZz1anigtA
Imagine for a second if it were a white conservative comedian repeatedly talking over and dismissing a black liberal, then accusing him of manipulation for daring to reference his own lived experience. Democrats would call that racist.
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