Remember the appeal by Donald Trump during the 2016 to America's black community? Trump pointed out the poor conditions in many urban centers where a great many African Americans live and the generally poor employment and economic condition of much of the black community after 50 years or so of monolithic support by black of the Democrats. Trump pledged to make things better and called on that community to vote for him. As Trump put it, "What do you have to lose?" After all, despite a great deal of oratory, the Democrats had done nothing much to improve the lot of the average black person in America.
When election day came, something like 90% of blacks voted for Hillary Clinton according to exit polling. That was, surprisingly, an improvement over the 2012 election when president Obama beat Mitt Romney by about 95% to 5%. In addition, black turnout in 2016 was lower than it had been in 2012. Nevertheless, it was an overwhelming vote for Hillary and the Democrats.
Of course, Trump won the election and has been in office now for a year and a quarter. During that time, black unemployment has fallen to the lowest level ever recorded by the federal government. Black income levels have also risen. It is, however, too early to say that Trump has truly delivered on his promise to help the black community. Nevertheless, it seems as if Trump's message is actually getting through. The Democrats' constant disparagement of Republicans and conservatives as racists and their claim to total allegiance from blacks may be showing some cracks.
Most important of all, black celebrities are actually saying nice things about Donald Trump. The main example of that is, of course, Kanye West. Here's a superstar with a huge following who says that he would vote for Trump and who tweets out a photo with him wearing a Make America Great Again hat. The response from the left was both intense and insane. Kanye was attacked in all manner of ways. The left didn't just disagree with Kanye, instead, it began putting out statements questioning Kanye's sanity. In other words, the liberals/Democrats reacted with their usual venom to try to destroy a black man who would dare say something nice about a Republican. The problem that the left faces with Kanye West is that they don't have the ability to destroy him. They can't denounce him as a racist, so their usual first attack is gone. No one who knows much about Kanye West would call him an Uncle Tom, so there goes that line too. That moved the talking points to saying that Kanye is having mental problems. Normally, that sort of massive attack would drown out any response, but this is Kanye West we are discussing. On Twitter alone, he has about 28 million followers. His wife has 60 million followers on the same medium. They can't be silenced. In a few tweets, Kanye made clear that he refuses to be "put in a box". The attack seems to have failed.
Then there's others, far less well known, like Chance the Rapper who tweeted that blacks don't have to be Democrats. That may not sound like much, but it is a major statement of independence. Candace Owens (who actually started this whole thing) also got into the mix. With regard to the late night talk show hosts who were making fun of (attacking) Kanye, she said that the "plantation owners" were out in force because "they want their slaves back."
We also can't forget Diamond and Silk, the two black women who support Donald Trump in a very vocal manner. They testified before Congress this week and pretty much destroyed those who questioned them.
Is this the start of a move by the black community towards leaving the Democrat party? I don't mean that the black community will suddenly vote only Republican. I just mean that America's blacks would vote for candidates based upon the merit of their positions and not just their party. Have blacks come to realize that fifty years of talking big but doing little by Democrats is no reason to give them loyal support. Are blacks realizing that the big push by the Democrats to support open borders just means worse economic condition for them?
We don't know the answer to this yet. The first test will be seen in November's midterm election.
When election day came, something like 90% of blacks voted for Hillary Clinton according to exit polling. That was, surprisingly, an improvement over the 2012 election when president Obama beat Mitt Romney by about 95% to 5%. In addition, black turnout in 2016 was lower than it had been in 2012. Nevertheless, it was an overwhelming vote for Hillary and the Democrats.
Of course, Trump won the election and has been in office now for a year and a quarter. During that time, black unemployment has fallen to the lowest level ever recorded by the federal government. Black income levels have also risen. It is, however, too early to say that Trump has truly delivered on his promise to help the black community. Nevertheless, it seems as if Trump's message is actually getting through. The Democrats' constant disparagement of Republicans and conservatives as racists and their claim to total allegiance from blacks may be showing some cracks.
Most important of all, black celebrities are actually saying nice things about Donald Trump. The main example of that is, of course, Kanye West. Here's a superstar with a huge following who says that he would vote for Trump and who tweets out a photo with him wearing a Make America Great Again hat. The response from the left was both intense and insane. Kanye was attacked in all manner of ways. The left didn't just disagree with Kanye, instead, it began putting out statements questioning Kanye's sanity. In other words, the liberals/Democrats reacted with their usual venom to try to destroy a black man who would dare say something nice about a Republican. The problem that the left faces with Kanye West is that they don't have the ability to destroy him. They can't denounce him as a racist, so their usual first attack is gone. No one who knows much about Kanye West would call him an Uncle Tom, so there goes that line too. That moved the talking points to saying that Kanye is having mental problems. Normally, that sort of massive attack would drown out any response, but this is Kanye West we are discussing. On Twitter alone, he has about 28 million followers. His wife has 60 million followers on the same medium. They can't be silenced. In a few tweets, Kanye made clear that he refuses to be "put in a box". The attack seems to have failed.
Then there's others, far less well known, like Chance the Rapper who tweeted that blacks don't have to be Democrats. That may not sound like much, but it is a major statement of independence. Candace Owens (who actually started this whole thing) also got into the mix. With regard to the late night talk show hosts who were making fun of (attacking) Kanye, she said that the "plantation owners" were out in force because "they want their slaves back."
We also can't forget Diamond and Silk, the two black women who support Donald Trump in a very vocal manner. They testified before Congress this week and pretty much destroyed those who questioned them.
Is this the start of a move by the black community towards leaving the Democrat party? I don't mean that the black community will suddenly vote only Republican. I just mean that America's blacks would vote for candidates based upon the merit of their positions and not just their party. Have blacks come to realize that fifty years of talking big but doing little by Democrats is no reason to give them loyal support. Are blacks realizing that the big push by the Democrats to support open borders just means worse economic condition for them?
We don't know the answer to this yet. The first test will be seen in November's midterm election.
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