Donald Trump recently asked minority voters like me, “What the hell do you have to lose [by voting for me]?”
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Many political strategists say the real payoff to Trump’s overtures to minority voters would be to assuage moderate Republicans concerned by charges that he is racist. If a crime happens today, we would be the first ones to call the police, but we can not sit by and see, openly, unarmed black men shot, and killed, who are not a threat.
Several days ago, Clinton aimed her sharpest attacks of the campaign against what she said was Trump’s affinity for supporting racially exclusionary groups. This assertion is unfair because it assumes there is no way Mr. Trump can win support from black voters.
After Trump cited the “oppression of women and gays in many Muslim nations” in June to support his call to temporarily ban Middle Eastern immigrants from entering the country, LGBT leaders accused Trump of fear-mongering after the Orlando massacre – and of suggesting in the process that there are no gay Muslim immigrants. But he also had said that the president of the NAACP was “trying to set me up” to be embarrassed.
It’s a nice thought to think Trump’s pitch to minorities magically turned liberals into doubters of systemic racism, similar to how the candidate’s spat with the Khan family turned them into fanatic defenders of veterans.
In comparison, 53 percent of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters say Hillary Clinton was the Democrats’ best option, compared to 56 percent in June. Democrats do voice some discontent, but it’s not almost at the Republicans’ level. The cousin of National Basketball Association star Dwyane Wade was an unintended target last week when she was shot and killed, and Trump used that incident to Tweet out “Just what I have been saying”.
“Is this guy actually trying to get black people to vote for him, or is he doing something else entirely?” A recent pro-Hillary ad provides a ideal example.
Trump has been direct in his approach on the campaign trail, though he’s made his appeals in front of predominantly white crowds in suburban areas. (If that is acceptable reasoning, then Mrs. Clinton’s supporters must all be communists because the chairman of the Communist Party USA is a Clinton supporter).
“Donald Trump has not held an event in the black community”, DNC interim chairwoman Donna Brazile said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week”.
If the candidate’s outreach convinces the racists in his camp that he isn’t one of them, what are they going to do about it? No, of course not.
Clinton argued that Trump was normalizing white nationalism. And 37 percent say she was not the best option, up from the previous 32 percent. This outreach speech was not delivered to a Black audience, church or civic organization, but at a rally of what is now familiar all-White audience.
Harvard University professor Jennifer Hochschild told Reuters that Trump’s efforts are all but useless, despite his assertions that he can improve the economic outlook of black voters.
Mr. Trump shouldn’t shy away from what he’s said because his critics wish he would shut up.
“You’re saying, ‘All black people”.
“They are living in awful, bad conditions – beyond belief conditions”.
Some have observed that Trump is seeking to appeal to moderate whites by expressing concerns about the African-American community. Struggling at the polls after a clumsy convention featuring the combined star power of one 1980s sitcom actor and one 1990s underwear model, he decides to shake things up by reaching out directly to white voters. “He is not speaking to our interests, he is not interested in us, he is interested in our vote.” .
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Speaking Saturday in Des Moines following Sen.
