It is now Republicans’ turn this week to make their case to keep President Donald Trump in office for four more years.
Black Republican lives, rare but not to be ignored, matter during RNC convention week Aug. 24-27.
Despite the raucous, joyous Democratic Party virtual convention Aug. 17-20 that included the historic nomination of Black and South Asian Kamala Harris as vice president, diverse Democrats make grave errors if they take their overwhelmingly paleface adversaries for granted.
Here’s why. Trump, barely slipped into the presidency because 13 percent of Black male voters chose him and enough Black men and women stayed home in 2016 because they weren’t feeling Hillary Clinton, the first competitive woman presidential candidate, a mic.com analysis revealed.
Indeed, 88 percent of Black voters chose Clinton over Trump, however in the 2012 election, 93 percent of Black voters showed up and chose Barack Obama over is GOP opponent. That slippage in support helped Trump.
And Trump, inept at governing, but masterful at mass media manipulation, has a handful tricks up his sleeve that could distract, disgust or disenfranchise enough Black voters to allow him to retain his Oval Office seat.
Example one: Candidate Angela Stanton-King, a felon Trump pardoned, who is now running for the Georgia congressional seat vacated by civil rights icon John Lewis, who died last month. King is the niece of one of Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughters. Stanton-King is running as an anti-abortion champion.
Example two: Kim Klacik, another GOP Black woman is attempting to seize the vacated seat of another fallen Black Democrat, this time the late Elijah Cummings of a mostly Baltimore, Maryland district.
Young Republican Klacik, clad in tight red dress and stilettos, walked a decrepit ghetto neighborhood like a runway model and in a video says the Democrats have failed Black Baltimore folk for 53 years. Klacik claims she can do better, but has no record of service and wasn’t offering any proof of political skill. But hey, sex appeal sells. Visually, she could hypnotize enough voters and win.
Example three: Those Black males who remain steadfast behind Trump. Consider Immanuel Jarvis of Durham, N.C., who is a GOP elected official. Fellow Blacks curse him and try to shame him, yet Jarvis remains unwavering in his support of Trump.
More extreme is Desmond Grant’s reason for backing Trump: “He does know how to make money,” the Houston trucking company owner told writer David J. Dent of the Daily Beast last spring. “He’s not an honest man and he’s not too bright, but he don’t give a [expletive]. You know what I’m saying? He’s not the most well-spoken but he stands his ground – and that’s part of being a man. He can do that very well.”
Democrats, independents too, allow Grant’s take to sink in. November’s election is not assured.
Oh, and how about this carnival barker special: Kanye West for president!
The erratic-behaving performing artist was on the ballot in a few states and his campaign kicked up dust over a weekend for failing by a minute to qualify for placement on the ballot in Wisconsin, the state that got Trump over in the Electoral College.
On Facebook late last week, two Black political reporters I respect, one a Baby Boomer male, the other a Gen X female, respectively asked their friends if they planned to watch this week’s RNC convention. Overwhelmingly, responders said “NO,” often emphatically.
That would be a tragic mistake.
Better study, take notes, prepare or risk broken hearts come November.