The Donald Trump campaign has been trying hard to convince black voters in crucial swing states like Ohio that the Republican presidential nominee is sympathetic to their causes. However, a toxic combination of racially-charged rhetoric and general cluelessness about matters important to black people has kept the billionaire and his supporters from gaining any traction with the voting bloc, and his poll numbers among black voters hover between zero and two percent.
Kathy Miller, a county chairwoman for the Trump campaign in the key state of Ohio, is one Trump supporter who has been drawn to the reality television star’s message. “I don’t think there was any racism until Obama got elected,” she told a reporter from The Guardian this week. Before Obama, she insisted, “we never had problems like this.” Miller went on to ramble somewhat incoherently:
“Now, with the people with the guns and shooting up neighborhoods, and not being responsible citizens, that’s a big change. And I think that’s the philosophy that Obama has perpetuated on America. And if you’re black and you haven’t been successful in the last 50 years, it’s your own fault. I think that, when we look at the last 50 years, where are we? And why? We have three generations of all still having unwed babies, kids that don’t go through high school, I mean when do they take responsibility for how they live? I think it’s due time and I think it’s good that Mr. Trump is pointing that out.”
Miller also called the Black Lives Matter movement a “stupid waste of time” and said that low voter turnout in black communities could be attributed to “the way they’re raised.” Throughout the taped interview, the Guardian reporter appears outwardly horrified.
The Trump campaign quickly distanced itself from Miller (who resigned), saying in a statement that she was merely a “volunteer” who helps organize “door to door outreach like door knocking and phone calls” and is in no way entitled to speak for the campaign. After diminishing her role, the campaign replaced her with a black woman, Tracey Winbush. The Trump campaign’s statement also included an apology attributed to Miller.
(Via The Guardian)
