DIAMONDALE, Michigan-Citing poverty, high unemployment and broken education systems, Donald Trump on Friday continued to court African-American voters with the simple question: “What do you have to lose?” “To those hurting, I say, ‘What do you have to lose by trying something new like Trump?’ You’re living in poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58 percent of your youth is unemployed”.
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“During his speech, Trump said many are living in poverty, have no jobs and asked the voters what they’ve got to lose. What do you have to lose?” he asked, straying from the speech scrolling on the teleprompter.
Current polls suggest that just 2% of African-American voters say they will vote for Trump. Some polls show Hillary Clinton leading Trump 91 per cent to 1 cent among black voters. Jeff Sessions, on Thursday unearthed a almost 30-year-old controversy: the mogul’s 1989 call to “bring back the death penalty” in light of the so-called “Central Park Five” case concerning the rape of a white Central Park jogger.
Two of Trump’s earliest supporters were a pair of African-American women, Lynnette “Diamond” Hardaway and Rochelle “Silk” Richardson, who became nearly instant YouTube stars after posting their “Stump for Trump” videos early in his campaign. You have no jobs …
During a rally on Thursday in Charlotte, North Carolina, Trump told black voters that they should vote for him because “the inner cities are so bad”.
Trump has gone on to claim in his bombastic manner that if the community gives him a chance, he will do so much for them he will be polling at 95% support from the community after four years.
“Anyone can tell you what the problem is”, said Rep. Wendell Byrd.
“I’ve been studying presidential rhetoric for 40 plus years now and I can not recall an instance in any campaign or any presidency where people have used language the way Donald Trump is using language”, Martin Medhurst, a Baylor University professor of communication and political science, told Agence France Presse.
The Friday address was the third time this week that Mr Trump sought to attract African American voters.
– Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) August 20, 2016 ” Your lives are utterly awful so you might as well vote Trump” is a hell of pitch.
“Detroit tops the list of most risky cities in terms of violent crime, number one”, Trump told his audience on Friday. African-Americans constitute around 12 per cent of the electorate but a large number are disenfranchised because of felony convictions.
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“It’s time to hold Democratic politicians accountable for what they have done to these communities”, Trump said. If he got 25 percent of the vote from black Americans, it would be remarkable. “I promise, I promise”, Trump said. My administration will go to work for you as no one has ever done before – we will work.
