One half of the Trump supporting duo Diamond and Silk has died, former President Donald Trump announced Monday evening.
Born Lynette Hardaway, Diamond, was raised in the Deep South in 1971 and was the daughter to a man who was a landowning farmer. In her 2020 book, Uprising, which she co-authored with her sister, Silk, born Rochelle Richardson, she wrote that she and her sister grew up “poor,” but “not without class, taste and an anchor in a parcel of the fertile land,” according to a NBC News report.
Trump said that Diamond’s death would be a huge blow and “really bad news” for Republicans.
“Our beautiful Diamond of Diamond and Silk has just passed away at her home in the state she loved so much, North Carolina,” he wrote on his Truth Social media platform.
It is unclear how she passed but according to Trump, her death “was totally unexpected.” She was 51.
On Diamond and Silk’s verified Twitter account, a statement was released reading “The World just lost a True Angel and Warrior Patriot for Freedom, Love, and Humanity!”
Late last year, the pair tweeted that they requesting prayers for Diamond.
“Anyone who believes in the power of prayer please pray for Diamond,” it read.
The post did not indicate exactly why prayers were needed.
Diamond rose to fame during Trump’s 2016 campaign for president for proudly supporting the right-wing candidate. At the time, they said that they were formerly Democrats, but converted to the GOP Party to support Trump.
The former president quickly embraced Diamond and her sister, noting that he did indeed have Black supporters despite numerous claims that he was a racist and bigot. Following his presidential win, both Diamond and Silk were invited and attended his 2017 inauguration.
A year later, the sisters testified before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation regarding supposed efforts to quash their Facebook page. They would later become contributors at Fox News, but the relationship with the right-wing network dissipated after their conspired that the number of those who died from Covid-19 was conflated to make Trump look bad.
Newsmax would later green light a show they hosted called Diamond and Silk: Crystal Clear.
“Diamond blazed a trail, founded on her passion and love for the entire race of humanity,” reads a statement on a crowdfunding site where her family is requesting funds following the news of her death. “The memory of her passing should forever remain in our hearts. In this time of grief, please respect the privacy of Diamond’s family but remember and celebrate the gift that she gave us all!”
