Rob Smith: The ‘Trump Truth’ About the Black Vote In 2020

The following is excerpted from Rob Smith’s book Always a Soldier: Service, Sacrifice, and Coming Out as ‘America’s Favorite Black, Gay Republican.

I hesitated to include Trump in this book because I believe that far too many people on both sides of the aisle are too emotionally invested in him as a political figure to judge him impartially. However, the truth is that Trump HAS done good things for African Americans!

The “lowest ever black unemployment” touted by right-leaning political figures is a great thing, but the truth is that these numbers had been trending downward for a very long time. However, the fact that they’ve hit record lows during an exploding economy that Trump’s policies are very much responsible for says something.

But I’d like to point to two very big wins for African Americans that get very little attention from the mainstream media: the passage of the First Step Act and the Trump administration’s Senate passing a bipartisan bill to permanently fund HBCUs (historically black colleges and universities).

So about those HBCUs: a lot of my conservative fans like to downplay any mention of “black” this or “gay” that and like to silence any mention of difference by stating that “We are all Americans.” Look, while that is true, the experiences of minorities just aren’t the same as those of white Americans. That’s not to demonize white people. I love ya’ll! I even married one of you! But black Americans have, to put it gingerly, a VERY different experience as Americans—which is where the HBCUs come in.

HBCUs were created in response to racist exclusion of African Americans from mainstream colleges and universities back in the days of segregation and open societal racism against African Americans. They remain an integral part of the culture and expe- rience of African Americans in this country, and when the Trump administration-led Senate passed a bill to PERMANENTLY FUND HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES, I thought you’d hear the same black celebrities who profess to LOVE HBCUs screaming about this from the rooftops! According to CNN: 

The bipartisan bill known as the FUTURE Act (Fostering Undergraduate Talent by Unlocking Resources for Education) strives to strengthen HBCUs as well as other minority-serving institutions by providing $255 million annually. The measure makes the federal student aid application process — the Free Application for Federal Student Aid — easier by eliminating up to 22 questions and the process that had required some students to verify IRS documentation with the Department of Education in order for aid to be released.

As of this writing, the bill is headed to the House to be voted on again, and as Ivanka Trump indicated on Twitter, the White House is ready and willing to sign the legislation. 

Of course, you shouldn’t be surprised that the passage of this legislation was met with crickets from the black members of the media “resistance.” African Americans actually being helped during what they will have you believe is the most racist administration in American presidential history doesn’t fit their narrative, so they exclude it. Their hope is twofold: that voters of ALL colors are too simple, stupid, and silly to find the facts for themselves, and that regular voting blacks in this country are so cowed by the prominent black voices in mainstream entertainment, media, and journalism that shame and silence black Trump supporters that they wouldn’t dare think for themselves. But the truth is…black Americans are waking up.

In two separate polls released within a week of one another in November 2019, African American support of Trump reached 34 and 34.5 percent, respectively. As I wrote at the time: I believe it is too early to say whether the two recent polls are indicative of a major and decisive decision among African-American voters to swing for Trump in November 2020, but they represent a pattern that is becoming too common to ignore.

What the Left also likes to ignore, but what is visible among blacks that exist in the real world outside of the coasts and cable news sets, is that enforcing laws against illegal immigration HELPS African Americans…and will probably help Trump snag more of the black vote in 2020.