Trump is a “man’s man,” alright. He wants to connect with any man he can manipulate, emasculate, or humiliate. Now that the next presidential election will be won or lost by a margin he wants to connect with young Black male voters. To do this the felon has adopted the language of criminals and exploited his relationships with the thugs he has pardoned. He believes “the Blacks” now connect with him because, as he loudly declares, the law is out to get him as it has been out to get Black men. But unlike too many Black men Trump was not falsely accused or brutally arrested. He has not been jailed. He could hire a legion of expensive attorneys. And he can well afford his appeal. This is the president who, aft er George Floyd’s slaying reviled protesters who peace-fully demonstrated for racial justice and said he wanted them shot; who called African nations “shithole countries” and ordered American-born congresswomen of color to go back to their own countries. Perpetuating racist stereo-types with his $399 gold sneakers, claiming the mantle of Lincoln, asserting that he has “many Black friends” Trump is counting on “the Blacks” to be deceived, mocked, and exploited as he plans to “terminate” the Affordable Care Act. Perhaps he will once again propose we all safeguard our health by injecting bleach into our arms.
Black men younger than 50 years old are likelier to be persuaded by Trump than older Black voters who survived the Civil Rights Movement, who remember Trump’s 1989 full-page newspaper ad in New York City promoting the death penalty for five Black teens wrongfully convicted of rape, and who recall how Trump was sued by the Department of Justice for his brazen discrimination of potential Black tenants when his company refused to rent apartments to them. In his court trial it was revealed that applications filed by Black apartment seekers were marked with a “c” for “colored” and promptly discarded even while signs proclaiming “Apartments for Rent” were prominently displayed. Newer Black voters who oppose book bans and sup-port the teaching of African American history in public schools might want to consider how these values will be honored a second Trump reign. And more mature Black men might reflect on what influence and direction they can provide to their impressionable Black male youth. Receiving quadruple the endorsement of Black voters recently polled than the 6 per-cent who actually voted for him in 2016, alarms Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP. “As Black Americans have been denied basic human rights due to less offensive crimes, any
