Calling her death "really bad news for Republicans," former President Donald Trump said on his Truth Social platform, "Our beautiful Diamond of Diamond and Silk has just passed away at her home in the state she loved so much, North Carolina."
From left, Then-President Donald Trump hugs conservative social media figures Lynnette Hardaway, known as Diamond, and Rochelle Richardson, known as Silk of "Diamond and Silk" in Washington, DC., on July 11, 2019.Oliver Contreras / Sipa USA via AP
Her cause of death was unknown. Trump said, "Diamond's death was totally unexpected."
The autobiographical "Uprising" says the sisters grew up "poor," but not without class, taste and an anchor in a parcel of the fertile land of the Deep South, where their father's dad and grandfather were landowning farmers.
The two women made a splash during Trump's 2016 campaign for president, supporting him with commentary on their YouTube channel. The duo has said they switched parties after being lifelong Democrats just to support Trump following his 2015 presidential campaign announcement.
Trump embraced the two, emphasizing their status as Black American women supporting a white Republican whose record on inclusion has been criticized as antiquated if not
prejudiced. They attended Trump's inauguration in 2017.
In 2018 the sisters
spoke before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation regarding alleged efforts to suppress their Facebook page. Their stand came amid Republican claims of anti-GOP bias at the platform.
Pro-Trump entertainer Diamond of Diamond and Silk dies at 51