Obama: Black Males ’Susceptible’ to Trump Because of His ‘Macho’ Persona
Former president ignores Trump's employment gains in the black community
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Former President Barack Obama believes black males supported President Donald Trump in 2020 because they were drawn in by his “macho” persona.
Obama seemingly ignored the fact that black unemployment repeatedly fell to record lows throughout 2018 and 2019, which may explain Trump's popularity among blacks.
“If there are some in the hip-hop community who are constantly rapping about bling and depicting women in a certain way, and then they hear Donald Trump basically delivering the same version of it, they might say, ‘Yeah, that guy, that’s what I want," Obama said.
"That’s what I want to be,’” Obama explained.
The former president told Peter Hamby, the host of Snapchat’s “Good Luck America," he thought that black men supporting President Trump were down to the allure of "bling."
Hamby noted that 95 percent of black male voters supported Obama, while only 80 percent of black men voted for former Vice President Joe Biden.
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Meanwhile, President Trump improved his support from black voters by four percentage points, according to exit polls in 2020 by Edison Research.
Obama argued it was the values projected by popular culture like power and greed, which attracted American men of every race.
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“I think men generally are more susceptible to public figures who act tough, sort of a stereotypical macho style,” Obama said.
“I don’t think Black men are immune to that any more than white or Hispanic men are.”
Obama then added that besides 'macho' black men, there were a lot of progressive black men.
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“Those of us who are progressive, who think, for example, that women should be treated with respect and dignity or wealth isn’t the measure of worth, we should have a more equitable society, we can’t take for granted any group,” he said.
Obama then noted some black neighborhoods had a few remaining "bunch of folks who are churchgoing folks” who still had “pretty conservative views about many things.”
He later admitted that Democrats should not believe they have the black or Hispanic votes “locked up” and should never assume they could not appeal to white men.
“[T]he one thing that the presidency taught me is the country’s complicated,” he said.
But Obama failed to note that it may well have been Trump's booming economy, which attracted black voters before the coronavirus took hold.
Since day one, Trump has made the economy his main focal point, where he touted economic gains for communities of color despite constant opposition from Democrats.
But no one can argue with solid data, as much as the Democrats tried to.
Black and Hispanic unemployment repeatedly fell to record lows throughout 2018 and 2019.
In August 2019, black unemployment fell 5.5 percent, falling below the previous record of 5.9 percent set in May 2018.
Meanwhile, Hispanic unemployment dropped lower, registering below 4.6 percent, leading the outlet to imply Trump had proven “there’s truth to John F. Kennedy’s sage observation that ‘a rising tide lifts all boats.'”
And, of course, there were high profile black rappers who came out in support of Trump.
The Trump campaign revealed in October it was working with iconic rapper Ice Cube to build out its Platinum Plan to empower African-Americans economically.
Ice Cube, whose legal name is O’Shea Jackson Jr., gave permission to reveal he has been working with Trump on the groundbreaking platform for black Americans.
