Trump’s Question — What Do Black Voters Have To Lose? — Echoes Loudly in Gubernatorial Election in New York

“What the hell do you have to lose?” Donald Trump asked Black Americans in his 2016 campaign. His question underscored the fact that the African-American community, which has historically voted overwhelmingly for Democrats, remains stuck at the bottom of the income and employment ladders.

It turned out to be a prescient question. Many Blacks appeared to respond to Trump’s challenge; some voted for the brash Republican, while others refused to vote for the Democrat, Secretary Clinton. Exit polls indicated Mr. Trump won 8 percent of the Black vote in 2016, more than the 6 percent the Republican, Senator Romney, won in 2012.

In addition, turnout amongst Blacks in the 2016 election is estimated to have fallen to 57.7 percent from 62.1 percent in 2012. That drop in voter participation could well have cost Mrs. Clinton the presidency. It was a smart gambit by Mr. Trump — one that Congressman Lee Zeldin, running for governor of New York, might yet benefit from.  

In Mr. Trump’s opinion, given the slow progress recorded by Black Americans over several decades, even as welfare programs ballooned and civil rights laws expanded opportunities for minorities, African-American voters should reconsider their allegiance to the Democratic Party. He was right then, and the same is true today.

Two issues beckon — education and crime. Even as Democrats pretend to care about racial equality and “equity,” they shamelessly refuse to overhaul New York’s public school system, which condemns too many black and brown children to a life of poverty. Where is the outrage?

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Published in The New York Sun