Former Attorney General Eric Holder once lamented that Americans were cowards on the subject of race. Apparently, Holder did not anticipate that Donald Trump would be the Republican candidate for president.
Given the courage with which Trump has addressed black voters and the issues he has raised, the Democrats may soon long for the good old days in which Republicans were too scared to speak up on the subject of race. But the truth is out now, and there is no going back.
This election, as they have in every election for decades, the Democrats will send the same old tired buses to take black Americans to the polls. And if black Americans vote as they have for decades, they will put the same old tired Democrats in power. And, as they have for decades, those Democrats will push the same old tired policies that benefit the Democrats and hurt the very people they claim to help.
The Democrats will get millions from the teachers’ unions and then fight against school choice. Democrats with armed bodyguards will push to disarm law-abiding citizens, knowing that those citizens will then be helpless in dealing with armed criminals. The Democrats will refuse to even name the enemy whose terrorist attacks kill black and white Americans indiscriminately, and they will refuse to take effective steps to keep those terrorists from coming here.
Every politician understands the importance of the black vote to the Democrats. Win 90 percent or more of the black vote, and a Democrat is home free until the next election. Without that 90 percent, Democrat politicians are out with the rest of America looking for jobs.
So, when campaign season rolls around, it’s time once again for Democrats to pay a little attention to black Americans. Put out the old rhetoric about white privilege to keep attention off the damage done by years of liberal policies. Find some bogeyman to label as a “bigot” who wants to hold black Americans down. Offer a quick-fix policy or two to cover the damage done by earlier quick-fix policies.
Then gas up the buses and get ready to live the high life in Washington until the next election.
Republicans have known the truth about Democrat exploitation of black Americans for years, but they have tiptoed around issues of race for two reasons. First, the far left has successfully used the accusation of racism to silence anyone who questions the results of their policies. Second, the Democrats’ ownership of the black vote has just become accepted in Republican circles as the way things are, and Republicans have felt helpless to change it.
Privately, Republicans acknowledge the cold immorality of the left’s exploitation of black Americans. Privately, they wonder how long black Americans will put up with carrying the burden of victory for the Democrats while getting little more than condescending rhetoric and failed policies in return for their labor. And privately, Republicans feel hope and even validation when courageous black conservatives like Sheriff David Clarke speak truth to liberal power.
For the most part, however, the GOP has been so busy trying to win a “not guilty” verdict on the bogus charge of racism that they haven’t been able to prosecute a case against the Democrats for callous exploitation of black Americans. Republican messaging to the black community has been soft and defensive, more rooted in fear of being called names than in courage to speak the hard truth: Democrats have no interest in offering real solutions to the challenges facing black Americans. Why would Democrats risk spoiling a deal that delivers their margins at the polls?
And then Donald Trump pulls the cover off the whole corrupt deal and utters the truth, not behind the safety of closed doors, but out in public: Black voters have been used and taken for granted by the Democrats for years.
And now Trump does the unimaginable for a Republican presidential candidate and asks black voters for their vote. He talks boldly about school choice, so that black parents can choose the schools that offer their children the best education. If the Democrats who are elected by black voters get to choose which schools their children attend, then the voters who put them in power should have the same right. He talks seriously about dealing with gangs and crime in our cities. He talks about rebuilding the American economy and putting Americans back to work.
The Democrats will howl, of course, and some Republicans might run for cover. But finally, a Republican candidate for president has refused to write off millions of black voters who are getting a dirty deal. He’s offering a better deal and asking the question other Republicans have been afraid to ask: “What have you got to lose?”
Trump speaks the truth about the corrupt deal knowing the hellstorm that of attacks that will follow. The Democrats may call Trump lots of names, but they can’t call him a coward on the subject of race.