As the GOP continues to look for ways to gain the Black vote for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, it seems “The Donald” is trying every and anything to come out ahead.
Addressing a predominantly white crowd at a rally in West End, Milwaukee on Tuesday evening, Trump had no qualms about leading with a narrative that blamed Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for the recent violence and protests in Milwaukee as the community continues to demand answers in the fatal police shooting of 23-year-old Slyville Smith. In an effort to use Hillary’s present-day support of criminal justice reform and the Black Lives Matter movement, Trump blindly accused Hillary of ““peddling the narrative of cops as a racist force in our society,” before vowing to end “the types of demonstrations” happening in places like Milwaukee.
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However, Trump’s overall message rang empty for many, considering that he choose to hold his rally in a white town 40 miles from Milwaukee with very few Black people in attendance, rather than go straight to the very people whose safety he claims to have such concern for by hosting a rally in Milwaukee instead. Ironically enough, Trump actually has yet to hold an event geared toward addressing the concerns of Black voters in any predominantly African-American communities, as pointed out by The New York Times.
If Trump is aiming to convince African-American voters that he has such concern for keeping Black neighborhoods safe — or any concern for the welfare of African-American neighborhoods in general — he certainly has a long way to go given his campaign track record thus far.