Back in April 2011, Donald Trump went on Talk Radio 1300 in Albany, New York. He told the host that he was mulling a presidential bid, but he was disappointed that the black community was so supportive of the Kenyan Muslim usurper despite the fact that his birth certificate was clearly a fraud. “I have a great relationship with the blacks,” Trump said, “I’ve always had a great relationship with the blacks.”
Contemporary polling in the Empire State showed that 95% of “the blacks” there were behind President Obama, but Trump thought it was more about racial solidarity than job performance.
“Look at Hillary Clinton,” the reality television star continued in reference to the 2008 Democratic presidential primary race. “Hillary Clinton did so much for the black population, so much and got very few votes.”
“Look, I tell it like it is,” he added. “Then you hear a political reporter go on and say, ‘It had nothing to do with race.’ But how come she got such a tiny piece of the vote. It’s a very sad thing.”
It’s interesting that Trump was so ready to acknowledge back then that Hillary Clinton had done “so much for the black population,” and that he asserted that it was “a very sad thing” that she didn’t get more support from them in the primaries.
It’s also interesting that Obama had a 95% job approval rating with New York State blacks in 2011 and that Trump currently has a 94% unfavorable rating from blacks nationally.
A recent Washington Post poll highlights the Achilles’ heel of Donald Trump’s campaign: Minority voters, namely blacks and Hispanics, don’t support him.
The poll, released Wednesday, only shows the problem is evolving for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. A staggering 94 percent of black adults surveyed view Trump negatively, a 13 percent increase since the same poll was conducted in May.
While Trump’s likely general election opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton, is boasting a 79 percent favorability rating among black Americans, Trump is fighting claims of racism after launching attacks on a U.S.-born judge of Mexican descent.
“I am not a racist, in fact, I am the least racist person that you’ve ever encountered,” Trump said to The Washington Post last week, defending his comments that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel’s Mexican heritage creates a conflict of interest that prevents him from fairly presiding over a case involving Trump University.
Those comments were met with scorn by both Democrats and Republicans, with Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) calling it “textbook” racism.
It’s not unlikely that by taking a tour around the country to question the president’s citizenship, Trump actually bolstered the president’s standing with the black community. I think the whole Birther Movement was so appalling that it caused black folks to rally to Obama in defense. When has any other president been subjected to something so ridiculous and transparently bigoted?
What’s more certain is that Trump earned the everlasting antipathy of nearly every black person in the country. And that’s not something he could afford to do if he ever wanted to be president. Not when he’s running against someone who (as he’s admitted) has done “so much for the black population.”
Here and there, I’ve either read something or heard on National Propaganda Radio a self-identified black person who says they like, support and will vote for Trump. Such people give out some pretty specious reasons, usually along the lines of “he’s shaking things up!” I am always a bit gobsmacked, but it’s similar to my feelings about Log Cabin Republicans.
I’ve never personally met a black person, who supports Trump, but I do some Log Cabin Republicans. The latter (that I happen to know) usually talk a lot about taxes.
I dunno. Everyone’s free to vote for whom they want, but blacks who vote for Trump are real head scratchers, second only to Latino/a’s who profess to vote for Trump. And I’ve heard some of the latter on the radio, too.
Go figure. I can state, for the record, that in CA, at least, there’s a yuuuuge GOTV effort in the Latino/a community… and it ain’t in support of Trump.
There are always a certain proportion of rebels in any demographic. Sometimes a healthier alternative exists. Sometimes only a more toxic alternative is available, but it may beat being one of the undifferentiated many in an insular and suffocating environment. Sometimes an alternative has such a nice shiny package and with a big bow on it that rebels don’t think beyond that before signing on to a new political religion (the neo-libertarians enthralled with Ron Paul seemed like this to me).
Mostly alienation from one’s personal group or the group from the larger community doesn’t offer alternatives. Then one either sticks with the known group (and a lot of pressure is placed on people to do that) or becomes unaffiliated.
No mystery as to why Trump isn’t popular in black or Latino communities, but some mystery as to why Obama would be so popular in either of them as there hasn’t been any material improvement in their lives or communities.
NYTimes – Bernie Sanders:
Marie, the only thing worse than whitesplaining is using a wholly unrelated quotation to support that whitesplaining. But yes, I’m disappointed that Obama didn’t find a way to convince a GOP Congress to eradicate global inequality and improve the lives of African-Americans.
I’m sure Bernie could have done that!
DiTourno says,
—–
the only thing worse that whitesplaining…
——-
You should never expect a person to give up what they are best at.
.
Not much mystery to me why POC would like Obama. What an exemplar for them–classy, smart, articulate. Wonderful family. What a contrast to our previous run of office holders.
He is still a neoliberal, but status quo or gradual decline might look good to them vs what Bush did. Hispanics are not always one issue on immigration–there are plenty who criticize Obama for deportations, but still generally approve of him.
I think POC are quite aware that many minorities would be even better off were it not for a white majority party that has voted 100% lockstep in opposition to the President that POC voted for in large numbers.
I’m trying to imagine the way the media would report Trump saying, “I’ve always had a great relationships with the Jews”.
or wimmuns…
I bet Trump has binders full of wimmuns.
It was the same thing with Ross “you people” Perot.
Some people are so racist that the instant they open their mouths it’s 100% clear and the game is over. rump is just such a person.
(These tend to be people who compensate wildly by saying they’re not racist or adding “which is fine” when they call out someone’s ethnicity.)T
“I am not a racist, in fact, I am the least racist person that you’ve ever encountered.”
You know who says shit like that?
Racists.
Don’t forget he loves Hispanics.
Remember, he loves “The Hispanics”. They are like a “thing”, or an object. They are not people, they are an homogenous glorp of humanity to The Donald.
Someone collected all of Trump’s hyperbole on a single page, last week. (Maybe Gawker?) He is the most; the least; the smartest; the best; the richest…it’s a dictator’s psychopathology. Idi Amin; the Shah etc.
Like folks would forget that he was the Birther-In-Chief.
Not now.
Not. ever.
How can we take advantage of the fact that Trump has gotten the (negative) attention of millions of black and Latino voters who never vote in midterms. (There are 50 million who voted in 2012 and didn’t vote in 2014. Even if that 50 million breaks down as per the census, that’s till millions of blacks and latinos.)
Why isn’t every part of the democratic party working overtime to advertise the fact that there will be a critically important election in 2018 that democrats are on a path to be pummeled in as they were in 2010 and 2014?
Why do democrats go into collective amnesia about midterms during every presidential cycle?
It is the weakness of their base coalition.
Because win or lose, the people that matter still have their jobs and besides, it’s Other People’s Money?
Recent Pew study of immigration trends has some surprising stories…
“One need only look at the past five years to see how this trend is taking form. Of immigrants who’ve been in the United States for no more than five years, more have come from Asia (2.5 million) than from Central and South America (1.7 million).”
http://www.pewhispanic.org/2015/09/28/modern-immigration-wave-brings-59-million-to-u-s-driving-popul
ation-growth-and-change-through-2065/
So can we expect the Trumpenfuehrer to start ranting about “the Asians” next? Mocking a Chinese accent perhaps?
His rhetoric is definitely out of date.