Donald Trump, who’s currently embroiled in the now-infamous hush money trial, still has his presidential campaign to worry about. According to a recent article published by the Boston Herald, Trump is intent on winning over Black and Latino voters and thinks enlisting Black Hip-Hop artists and athletes will do the trick. Part of his plan includes a major campaign event at Madison Square Garden featuring Black artists.
Additionally, his aides said Trump has floated the idea of making appearances in Chicago, Detroit and Atlanta with leaders of color and “realigning American politics by flipping Democratic constituencies.”
Five months before the first general election votes are cast, Trump’s campaign appears too disorganized to pull off such a plan. The Trump campaign removed its point person for coalitions and hasn’t appointed a replacement. The Republican Party’s minority outreach offices across the country have been shuttered and replaced by businesses that include a check-cashing store, an ice cream shop and a sex-toy store. Campaign officials admit they are weeks away from rolling out any targeted programs.
“To be quite honest, the Republican Party does not have a cohesive engagement plan for Black communities,” Darrell Scott, a Black pastor and longtime Trump ally who co-founded the National Diversity Coalition for Trump in 2016, said. “What it has are conservatives in communities of color who have taken it upon themselves to head our own initiatives.”
While Trump has a loyal legion of supports, John Legend isn’t one of them. During an interview with former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki earlier this month, Legend said Trump has done little for Black people and is anything but an ally.
“He’s made it clear throughout his life that he believes Black people are inferior,” Legend said. “He believes that to his core, in his bones, he wouldn’t let us live in his buildings back in the day. But also, when you hear some of the stray comments he makes, he clearly believes in a genetic hierarchy of humanity, and it’s racially determined.
“So, he is a tried and true, dyed-in-the-wool racist. In the core of his being, he’s a racist. So, I don’t want to hear what he has to say about what he’s done for Black people. He’s done very little for us and he is at his core, truly, truly a racist.”