Wednesday on CNN, network senior political reporter Nia-Malika Henderson characterized President Donald Trump’s message in the Republican National Convention as telling his white supporters they “won’t have to share that power in his America.”
Discussing Mark and Patricia McCloskey, Henderson said, “Think about what that couple did. They drew guns on people outside their home on a sidewalk because they were Black. I mean, that’s exactly what happened in that instance, and that is the message, I think, that Donald Trump wants to deliver to particularly white people — that he is the one standing between the lawlessness of Black and brown people. And he is the one that can essentially help white Americans maintain their status. He gets black people to sort of vouch for him and say that he’s not a racist, and, in fact, say that America’s not even really a racist country. So, listen, this could very well work because I think, you know, there is some anxiety among white Americans about the changing demographics of this country. There is some anxiety about sharing power with different groups in this country.”
She continued, “You have Donald Trump saying that — to white America, you won’t have to share that power in his America. So I think, listen, he has been able to reinvent himself to white audiences throughout his career, particularly white evangelicals, who see him in some ways as a messianic kind of figure,” she said. “There are white Americans who very much want to believe in Donald Trump, so they could very well believe in this version of Donald Trump that is presented here that is patently false and patently at odds with the Donald Trump we know and have seen over these last many years.”
Henderson added, “You saw all those Black men that are featured. There are no women. Black women, right? We talk about him going after women. He’s really just going after white women. I don’t think a single Black woman has stood live in the podium area at all. Maybe that will happen at some other point. But they are very, very consistently and strategically going after Black men and talking about some of the things that Joe Biden has said and done because there is a history of black men voting for Donald Trump, 13% did so in 2016. So it is that, and it is also this sort of indirect appeal to white moderates as well who want to feel comfortable voting for a man who is someone who is a racial flame thrower and likes to race bait.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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