Black voters are being set up by the Left to take the blame for a Kamala Harris defeat

Elitist hectoring by Barack and Michelle Obama is struggling to compete with Donald Trump’s economic offer

Back in November 2008 – long before the Maga-madness of Donald Trump or the barrier-breaking babble of Kamala Harris – the United States elected its first African-American president, Barack Obama. That milestone was rightly celebrated, particularly by black Americans themselves. But dark clouds, as they so often do, immediately clouded the horizon.
During that same 2008 election cycle, Californian residents voted in Proposition 8, which approved a state-wide ban on same-sex marriage. This was nearly a decade before the US Supreme Court legalised marriage equality nationwide and Prop 8’s passing kicked off a campaign of blame and recrimination.
The Left’s solution? Blame black voters. Almost immediately, progressive pollsters and pundits deduced that the historically high number of black voters who had turned out for Obama were also responsible for Prop 8’s success.
“Seventy per cent of African American voters approved Prop 8,” claimed Lefty Seattle columnist Dan Savage the day after the election in a piece titled “Black Homophobia”. “African-American voters,” he continued, “[have] written anti-gay discrimination into California’s Constitution.”
Never mind that black people comprised a mere 7 per cent of California’s population back then and that Prop 8’s passing was later attributed to support from a range of demographics including whites, Latinos, Mormons, older and … yes … black voters. “I’m done pretending that the handful of racist gay white men out there … are a bigger problem for African Americans,” said Savage, “than the huge numbers of homophobic African Americans are for gay Americans.”
Although such incendiary language would never be tolerated in today’s gotcha-woke landscape, once again African-Americans – particularly black men – are being set up to take the blame for a history-making presidential election. And, today as in 2008, it’s the Left that is responsible for the set up.
Kamala Harris has always had a complicated relationship with black Americans – both because of her own mixed-race heritage and because of her campaign’s refusal to engage with its uniqueness. Harris surrogates love to laud their candidate’s myriad milestones, yet any attempt to parse their deeper nuance or veracity are immediately shut down.
But as has been the case since her failed 2020 presidential run, voters – particularly black voters and especially black male voters – have seen through this, and Harris’ poll numbers have reflected this. African Americans, while still supporting Harris outright, are poised to vote Republican in record numbers.
Polling suggests that Trump may secure more than 20 per cent of the black vote this week – and upwards of 30 per cent of foreign-born black men are expected to support Trump, if 2020 election data from the Brookings Institute carries through. Early voting numbers from key swing states such as North Carolina also seem to be causing Harris’ team to sweat as black voters show up in numbers lower than she needs to guarantee a win.
The Democrats know that they have an “African American problem” on their hands, but appear unclear on how to fix it. The Obamas were one solution, with Michelle appearing alongside Harris late last month at 11th hour campaign rallies to warn of the dangers of Trumpism. Barack, meanwhile, set about chastising black men who failed to back Harris a week earlier.
But the Obamas missed their mark – particularly President Obama, who effectively accused Trump-leaning black men of sexism. The real problem when it comes to African American voters and Harris isn’t sexism – or even racism – it’s elitism.
A few years back, during a brief stint working at global glossy magazine giant Conde Nast, I was struck by a photo from an internal HR newsletter showing Vogue chief Anna Wintour front row at a European fashion show with the company’s newly-crowned chief diversity officer Yashica Olden by her side. The optics and messaging here were clear (and ludicrous): We take equity and anti-racism seriously – so seriously that our DEI lead is worthy of Row One status at the couture.
Because this, in the eyes of the elites, is the truest form of equality – different races shoulder-to-shoulder among the 1 per cent of the 1 per cent, even as nearly 20 per cent of African-American live in poverty, and a majority of black kids are born into single-parent homes.
Sure, Harris – a product of elite schooling and parentage – may have snagged yet another cover of Vogue. But most of the rest of Black America couldn’t care less – neither about Harris nor Obama’s wokey-elitist hectoring.
Because that was what Barack was doing – finger-wagging at average American black men for having the audacity to consider voting according to what they perceive to be their best interests.
Ultimately, most black Americans know better than to buy into this silliness – they simply can’t afford to. Black unemployment may be at near historic lows, but it’s still nearly 50 per cent higher than it is for whites, while average black household wealth remains at little more than 10 per cent the level of their white counterparts. This is why black voters are turning to Trump – he symbolises opportunity and prosperity, even if so much of it is inherited and illusory. The Democrats – they offer Vogue covers and fancy estates, like the Obama’s out on Martha’s Vineyard.
And so African-Americans – their men in particular – are likely to vote Republican in historic numbers this week. And, as with Prop 8 in California in 2008, they are likely to be blamed by the Left if Donald Trump triumphs on Tuesday.