ABC’s hit comedy series Black-ish kicked off it’s third mid-season premiere Wednesday night with an emotional post-election episode that calls Donald Trump the “devil,” casts his voters as racists and questions if Dr. Ben Carson is really black.
Set two months after the election, the episode sees Johnson family patriarch Dre (Anthony Anderson) walk in on his wife Rainbow mourning Hillary Clinton’s election loss — she’s dressed in a gay pride scarf, a Democratic Party t-shirt, with a Black Lives Matter button on it — and his children Andre Jr. (Marcus Scribner) and Zoey (Yara Shahidi) enjoying a vacation from school, which gave every student a “day of reflection.”
The episode’s most contentious conversation is set at a roundtable boardroom at Dre’s advertising agency office.
Most of the heated debate focuses on Lucy (Catherine Reitman), who is white, defending her vote for Trump against Dre, Daphne (Wanda Sykes), Josh (Jeff Meacham), Stevens, (Peter Mackenzie) and Curtis (Allen Maldonado).
“That pant-suited white woman could have been the first female president,” Daphne said. “Can someone explain how 53 percent of white women voted for the orange p*ssy grabber? Lucy, I mean, as a resident white woman, if there was ever a cue for you to talk, it would be now.”
“Why didn’t your sisters turn out for Hillary,” Daphne asked. “Why is she just staring at me?”
“Well, first, white women aren’t sisters. We hate each other. Second, if you must know, I voted for Trump,” Lucy explains, much to the horror of the entire office.
Daphne fires back: “Fine, as long as she knows that a vote for Trump is a vote for racism.”
At this point, Stevens — the ad agency’s bigoted, white, misogynistic chief executive — chimes in to lecture Lucy about abandoning women.
“Lucy, you sound stupid, okay?” Stevens says. “There’s all this yappity-yap about female empowerment, and still you don’t care enough to elect the first female president?”
“Of course I want a female president. I just didn’t want it to be her,” Lucy said of Clinton.
“You guys just said that you would’ve voted for anyone who was black, but what if instead of Obama, it was Clarence Thomas or Herman Cain or Ben Carson?” Lucy asked.
“Oh, God, no.” Daphne said.
“Definitely not that fool,” Dre added.
“Dude is a weirdo,” Curtis said.
“Yeah, exactly,” Lucy responded. “Well, in my mind, Hillary Clinton is the Ben Carson of white women.
“Is Ben Carson even black?” Dre asked.
Turning their attention back to Trump, Daphne said, “But Trump’s a misogynist. I mean, t-t-the boob jokes, the Miss Universe comments, the p*ssy grabbing? Man, totally ruined Tic Tacs for me.”
“Look,” Lucy said, “as stupid as those comments were, and they were, at least I know he says what’s on his mind. Who knows what Hillary’s actually thinking? What was she even about?”
“Oh, my God. Stop it! What was she even about? She was the most qualified candidate to ever run for president,” Josh explained.
“Look, I’ll admit, I don’t think Donald Trump is a great guy,” Lucy said
“No, he is the devil, and I should know,” Stevens added.
It’s here that Lucy attempts to explain her reasons for voting for Trump and why she didn’t support Clinton.
“But look, Hillary’s no angel, either. I’m not some crazy right-wing nut, you guys. I voted for Obama twice. I even got my Republican parents to vote for him. He felt different. I believed he was gonna change stuff. He did!” She explained. “But it’s eight years later, and my dad’s still out of work, my hometown’s about to go under, and Hillary comes out saying she’s basically gonna keep everything the same. I’m sorry, but that doesn’t work for me or my family.”
“Okay, I hear what you’re saying. But what about all the other families that are gonna be affected — Gay families, Muslim families, immigrant families?” Josh asked.
Enter Connor, Stevens’ laughably unqualified son and heir apparent.
“And we’re in here fighting against the greatness of America again, aren’t we?” Connor asked before making a case for why Trump may turn out to be a very successful president.
“I’m sorry, but just think about it for a second. This country at its core is just a company. I mean, I know we don’t like to think of it that way, but America is a corporation, okay? It’s the world’s biggest and most important corporation,” he says. “So is it so crazy to think that maybe a businessman, who runs big corporations, might not be such a bad idea?”
“He runs them into the ground,” Daphne responds. “That idiot goes bankrupt like Khloé Kardashian changes black dudes.”
Dre, having heard enough, gave an emotional speech about how he’s “terrified” of Trump.
Black-ish writer and show runner Kenya Barris addressed the episode on Instagram writing, “This was my first attempt at Writing/Directing and I feel so honored and fortunate to have been able to have the opportunity to do it with the talented cast, crew, and writers that I work with everyday and call my family. THANK YOU ALL!!!”
Last season, the Golden Globe-winning show tackled police brutality and the criminal justice system in America.
Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson