Features

Blacks for Trump: It's a Real Thing

Gar Smith
Friday November 04, 2016 - 11:05:00 AM

The occasional "Blacks for Trump" placards that have been appearing (strategically positioned) at the candidate's back during Trump rallies, are not just a quirk. There actually are a number of vocal African American critics who would favor a Trump Upset over a Clinton Continuum. 

Noting the hatred that America's military actions have triggered around the world—from the Middle East to Africa—Black Muslim leader Louis Farakan recently observed

"When Mr. Trump said, 'We can't allow these Muslim refugees into America,'. . . . Mr. Trump, I think, is wise to vet anyone coming from that area." 

And then there's Pastor James Manning, founder of the Harlem-based ATLAH Blood of Jesus Worldwide Missionary Church. Manning has called Trump the best thing the Lord ever did for the planet Earth. Manning has even called Trump the "Black people's hero." 

(Note: A telling glimpse into the pastor's worldview can be seen in the welcoming sign outside Manning's church. It has prominently displayed the message: "Homos cursed be thou with cancer HIV syphilis stroke madness itch then Hell 1 Cor. 6:9.") 

In October 2016, Brunell Donald-Kyei, Vice-Chairwoman for the National Diversity Coalition for Trump, was invited to defend Trump on WGN News. Here is how she explained Trump's appeal: 

"His best answer is: 'I want to bring jobs.' Democrats care about the inner city when it's election time. After election time, what do you get? Zero. . . . Even though the truth is bitter, we have to swallow it.  

"The Democratic Party I voted for over 20 years of my life. I voted for Barack Obama when he said he was going to bring hope and change and, yes we can and no we didn't.  

"The jobs did not come, the investment in our community did not come, the national security—our borders are open, we're not safe.  

"We've got to stop thinking as black and white and purple and Arab. We've got to start thinking as Americans and that's what Donald Trump is saying: that we're Americans. America First." 

Meanwhile, the organization Blacks4Trump has posted a dozen or so videos sharing supporters' appearances on Fox News, The Sean Hannity Show, and personal testimonials from a series of proud Trump supporters—folks like Cory, Makada, and Patricia, who is described as a "Christian/Conservative/Retired Operation Iraqi Freedom Veteran." Here is Patricia's video: 

 

And here is a statement from Cory, a Blacks4Trump co-founder who explains "How can a young black man support Donald J. Trump?": 

 

But it's not just ministers and media messengers who are campaigning to get out the Black Vote for Trump. A number of notable (and, in some cases, notorious) celebrities also have climbed aboard the Trump battlewagon. They include: 

Dr. Ben Carson, former boxer Mike Tyson, former NBA "bad boy" Latrell Sprewell, former NLF running back Herschel Walker, former NFL wide receiver Turrell Owens, Jimmy "The Rent Is Too Damn High" McMillian, and former Celebrity Apprentice rejectee Dennis Rodman (fired on task 5). 

One of Trump's most effective lines is that, over the past 30 years of Clinton's career, "things have not gotten better." Clinton's response continues to be: "Donald Trump does not have the temperament to be commander-in-chief!" (It doesn't help that Clinton angrily barks this cliché in a strident, annoying and—yes, intemperate—manner. 

A better response might be: "One of the reasons things have not gotten better over that past years is that a Republican controlled House and Senate has paralyzed the political process—refusing to pass federal budgets or even confirm a Supreme Court justice—out of partisan political spite." 

There is a high-level of impatience bubbling towards a froth on the national stove-top. And, with a choice between The Great Orange Unknown and More-of-the-Same, the pot is getting ready to boil over. 

Even Michael Moore has conceded that the situation is getting ready to blow. Moore recently offered this assessment of Campaign 2016: 

"Whether Trump 'means it or not' is not even relevant because he's saying the things to people who are hurting. That's why every beaten-down, nameless, forgotten working stiff who used to be part of what was called the Middle Class loves Trump. He is the Human Molotov Cocktail that they've been waiting for—the legal hand-grenade that they can legally throw into the system that stole their lives from them."  

On November 8, Moore fearfully envisions, the disposed are going to storm the polls and cast a vote to "blow up the goddamn System because IT IS THEIR RIGHT! The Trump election is going to be the biggest FUCK YOU! ever recorded in human history." 

Beyond the confines of urban and rural angst, there is another issue that troubles a good hunk of the electorate—Clinton's foreign policy. Clinton is a demonstrable war hawk who has applauded covert wars around the world (including arming the Taliban to fight the Russians in Afghanistan) and been intimately involved in the assassination of "targeted enemies" including Osama bin Laden and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. She has openly laughed about the murder of Gaddafi (who reportedly was raped by a bayonet before he was killed) and has called for the removal of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. Clinton was a party to the plot to overthrow the elected pro-Russian government in Ukraine and Clinton recently has called for the US to impose a "no-fly zone" over Syria (an act of aggression under international law that would compel US jets to engage in combat with Syrian and Russian aircraft).  

Top Russian officials have expressed alarm over the prospect of a Clinton presidency. On October 12, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, told Reuters that Trump was the only candidate interested in de-escalating rising tensions between Moscow and Washington. Zhirinovsky's warning was stark: 

Americans voting for a president on Nov. 8 must realize that they are voting for peace on Planet Earth if they vote for Trump. But if they vote for Hillary it's war. It will be a short movie. There will be Hiroshimas and Nagasakis everywhere." 

Even Green Party candidate Jill Stein recently has indicated a lean towards Trump. On October 14, Stein tweeted: 

Hillary Clinton's foreign policy is much scarier than Donald Trump's, who does not want to got to war with Russia. #PeaceOffensive 

And Green Party VP Ajamu Baraka (who recently penned an essay titled "Why Hillary Clinton Is More Dangerous Than Donald Trump") recently tweeted in the same vein, noting: 

The danger to the rest of us is not Trump, but Hillary Clinton. 

Expecting people of color to fear Donald Trump after all we've been through the last 200 years, is absurd. 

On October 31, a flustered Green Party member shared the following concern on Facebook: 

A Clinton presidency is DANGEROUS . . . If a Trump presidency would mean that we have to fight ignorants in the streets—I'm ready for that. 

To which, Green Party leader Stein replied: 

I couldn't have said it better. 

Is that our choice? Are the times so desperate that we must chose between (1) domestic civil war and the institution of martial law or (2) the global annihilation that would result from a nuclear war? 

Would you be willing to sacrifice the US in order to save the planet? 

We appear to be on the brink of an outcome that could deprive millions of Americans—regardless of ancestry, religion, or skin color—of the most fundamental of rights: Our rights to life and liberty.