Larry Elder blasts hurdler who said 'this is for everybody that looks like me' after she made US Olympic team



Conservative commentator Larry Elder blasted hurdler Alaysha Johnson for saying "this is for everybody that looks like me" after she took second place in the 100-meter hurdles final at the U.S. Olympic Trials Sunday, which earned her a spot on the team heading to the Paris Games later this month.

A clip Elder posted on X showed Johnson after the race saying, "It was all God. ... everybody all the time said that I wasn’t good enough, said that I didn’t deserve. And so I did this my way, my team’s way, and just the way that it was meant to be. This is for the hood babies. This is for the people who are poor and come from nothing. This is for everybody that looks like me that was ever doubted, and I did it with a black designer on my chest. This is what I stand for, and I’m making a way for everybody in my position.”

'If you know me then you know EXACTLY what I meant by my speech. If you don’t, it wasn’t for you & that is OK!'

Elder's reaction? "Alaysha 'Lay' Johnson (@ImJustLaylay), congrats on making the Olympics. But why the, 'This is for everybody who [sic] looks like me' crap? There was but ONE non-black runner — and she finished next to last. Can we quit this 'we shall overcome' BS? For crying out loud, this is 2024!"

The post from Elder — who has 1.5 million followers on X — has attracted about 50,000 likes since it went live Sunday and has garnered over 2,000 comments. Here are a few of them:

  • "Thank God we can finally see a strong black woman representing the U.S. in the Olympics!" one commenter quipped. "It's long overdue!"
  • "Why do people look for skin color everywhere? It does not matter! Be proud of who you are and what you have achieved. America is not racist, we had for 8 years a black president, if that is not enough, I do not know what it is!" another commenter stated.
  • "I’m old enough to remember watching [black sprinter] Wilma Rudolph run in the (televised) 1960 Olympics in Rome. I was 4 [years old]. I remember my mother yelling at the TV, 'Run, Wilma, run!' That was something special," another user recalled.
  • "I can’t imagine how this would’ve made me feel if the black athletes I admired growing up made comments like this," another commenter said. "The first biography I ever read was Herschel Walker’s. I idolized him after that. I’m glad I grew up in a time when looking like someone wasn’t a prerequisite to admiring or wanting to be like them."

The day after the race, Johnson posted the following message on X: "If you know me then you know EXACTLY what I meant by my speech. If you don’t, it wasn’t for you & that is OK!"

Anything else?

Johnson's personal-best 12.31 in the finals put her a hair behind winner Masai Russell's 12.25, USA Today reported, adding that Russell's time broke Gail Devers' 24-year-old meet record and was the fastest time in the world this year.

“People like me who come from the inner city of Houston ... it’s hard for us to get opportunities,” Johnson — a 27-year-old who ran at the University of Oregon and Texas Tech — told the Associated Press. “It always takes what I say is double the effort to get half as far. I always tell people if we had a little bit more support, I probably could have been here a long time ago. But it made me understand that regardless of how many people have your back, I’m still strong enough to do this on my own two feet.”

Johnson has hypothyroidism, which causes fatigue, and she told the outlet she cut back on her warm-up Sunday “to make sure I can conserve as much as I could to be able to get through 10 hurdles." The AP added that Johnson also ran on borrowed spikes after the “bubble popped” on the only pair she took with her to the trials.

“We did this ground up," Johnson also told the outlet. "So honestly, I just hope that somebody sees that I’ve worked my tail off — my team has worked their tails off — to get this far. We could have been this far a long time ago, had we had a little bit of help.”

Johnson, Russell, and third-place 100-meter hurdles finisher Grace Stark are all first-time Olympians, USA Today said.

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Larry Elder FURIOUS that Fox News, RNC allow THIS, but keep him off presidential debate stage

Larry Elder FURIOUS that Fox News, RNC allow THIS, but keep him off presidential debate stage

Larry Elder FURIOUS that Fox News and RNC allow THIS, but keep him off presidential debate stage



Beloved conservative Larry Elder is in the running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination but isn’t being allowed to participate in the debates.

“I’ve met the 40,000 individual donor criteria. In fact, I’ve got to have 200 donors from 20 different states. I’ve exceeded that,” Elder tells Glenn Beck.

“The problem is the last one, which is I’ve got to have three national polls where Elder is at least 1% among Republican and Republican-leaning voters. I submitted three,” he continues, but adds that “they rejected one: the Rasmussen poll.”

He was told that poll was “affiliated with Donald Trump” and therefore would not be considered.

Elder says he was also told that any poll affiliated with any candidate is not usable.

“I said, the same Rasmussen that you quote all the time on your Twitter feed? The same Rasmussen that was the most accurate in 2016? And they said, 'Yes,'" Elder adds.

While Elder was unhappy with that decision, he turned in one more poll in which he was above 1% — but it was turned in after the deadline.

“I didn’t realize they were going to reject one of the ones that I turned in, so as far as I’m concerned, all the criteria have been met,” Elder says.

Elder’s lawyer says the RNC and Fox News could be facing a fine of up to $100 million for that decision.

“What I think, Glenn, is they don’t like Larry Elder because I make them feel uncomfortable. I talk about the lie that America’s systemically racist — a lie that Democrats have been using against Republicans time and time again,” he says.

“I think I make them feel uncomfortable because I know the number one social problem in the country is not the epidemic of COVID but the epidemic of fatherlessness. 70% of black kids [come] into the world without a father in the home married to the mother, up from 25% back in 1965. They don’t want to hear about that because they’re definitely afraid of being called a racist,” Elder continues.

“Nothing scares a Republican establishment guy more than being called a racist by the left.”


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'I'm going to be on that debate stage': Larry Elder tells Glenn Beck he'll hit the RNC with an FEC complaint if Republicans keep him off debate stage at last minute



Conservative media figure Larry Elder figured he'd be a shoe-in for the Republican National Committee's first presidential debate in Milwaukee on Wednesday, having ostensibly met its various entry requirements.

However, while en route to Wisconsin, he learned that the RNC was icing him out of its debate on Fox News due to a novel technicality.

Rather than go quietly, Elder is now threatening to file a formal Federal Election Commission complaint against the RNC unless it reverses its decision by 2 p.m. CT and acknowledges that he met all the criteria for entry.

Elder told nationally syndicated radio host and Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck Wednesday, "I'm in Milwaukee and I'm going to be on that debate stage, I predict it. I'm not a betting man, but if I were, I would bet my house Larry Elder is going to be up there on the debate stage in some 12 hours from now."

The RNC allegedly revealed at the last moment that Rasmussen Polls — one of the three polls that demonstrated Elder had achieved at least 1% — wouldn't count due to its "ties to former President Donald Trump ... an individual who is not even participating in the upcoming debate."

Elder told Beck and the RNC alike, "Well, it's not affiliated with me," adding that the RNC seems otherwise content to quote Rasmussen "all the time on [its] Twitter feed."

Rasmussen Reports responded to the RNC's apparent allegation, stating, "We have not run a poll suggested by or paid for by President Trump or any of his surrogates - but we'd be pleased to do so," adding it would "run a poll for ANY politician, party or U.S. based political group" under its rules.

Elder's prospective complaint would allege the RNC has run afoul of FEC rules, which require not only that debate guidelines be clearly stated to all candidates in advance and equally applied, but that promotional services cannot be provided to one candidate over another.

According to Craig Engle, legal counsel for Elder's 2024 campaign, this complaint might result in a significant fine for the RNC and possibly for Fox News as well.

Elder noted in a statement on X, "The FEC could deem the RNC’s and FOX News' free national TV airtime and free promotional activities to SELECT candidates as 'ILLEGAL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION TO CANDIDATES' — with the premise being that, free national TV airtime comes with an extraordinary real-dollar value to candidates who are arbitrarily allowed onto the stage under a certain set of rules — while other candidates are arbitrarily kept off the stage through a different set of rules."

Elder told Beck that the possible fines on the RNC and Fox News would likely be multiplied by the number of candidates on stage, thereby fitting both with fines costing hundreds of millions of dollars.

As it now stands, the debaters Wednesday include North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former Vice President Mike Pence, Vivek Ramaswamy, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Rather than participate in the debate, former President Donald Trump will be featured in an interview with Tucker Carlson, which is expected to run around the time of the RNC's debate.

Elder suggested his exclusion "is designed ... to make sure that Ron DeSantis is the nominee. Anyone other than Trump. This is BS."

The California Republican further suggested that he makes elements of the Republican establishment uncomfortable because he doesn't tolerate knee-jerk accusations of racism; understands that fatherlessness, not COVID, is the the greatest epidemic afflicting America; and desires both a negotiated armistice in Ukraine and an unburdening of America from its various unfair international obligations.

After noting his displeasure at seeing Elder boxed out of the debate, Beck said, "When the GOP selected their leadership here recently, they signaled who they were. ... They are becoming Democrats in every way."

— (@)

While Elder's last run for higher office was unsuccessful, he still managed to make a substantial splash.

In the Sept. 14, 2021, special general election for governor of California, Elder was Gov. Gavin Newsom's top rival, having led other challengers with 48.4% (3.5 million votes). However, on the question of whether ultimately to replace Newsom, the majority of voters chose to stay the course.

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