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On the heels of Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz’s ill-conceived suggestion that Republicans are fine sacrificing white, women voters for “Julios and Jamals” (presumably meaning Latino and Black men), I think now is a good time to revisit a beat I’ve been on for the last several years: covering the GOP’s hapless attempt to sway Black voters.
Last week, failed presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy appeared to get a co-sign from rapper Meek Mill when the artist reposted a right-wing conspiracy theorist’s clip of Ramaswamy’s gushing endorsement of Trump in Iowa last week.
“Wait till yall see who the Black people in poverty vote for!” Mill posted on the social media platform X, somehow managing to load elitism, classism and an endorsement of Ramaswamy’s bigotry into a dozen words.
Meek Mill later posted that people shouldn’t listen to him because he doesn’t know anything about politics (as if we needed that tip). But not before Republicans, including Ramaswamy, gleefully re-shared the rapper’s post.
Elsewhere on social media, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene recently shared a video from social media conspiracy theorist “Tasha K” to imply Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis deserves to face criminal charges related to allegations of impropriety recently made against her by Michael Roman, one of Donald Trump’s co-defendants in his election-related RICO case. Tasha K is best known for defaming rapper Cardi B with gross and false sexual allegations.
And then there’s the raft of right-wing media who’ve been touting hip-hop radio host Charlamagne Tha God’s seemingly endless public attacks on President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party. The “Breakfast Club” host has pitched himself in recent years as a political expert on Black voters (specifically Black men), rather than a deeply controversial shock jock. And right-wingers have seemed almost giddy to present his critique of the Biden admin as one that’s shared by Black voters (Fox News writes about him constantly, for example). I’ve seen little evidence to suggest he really has his ear to the culture, and I’ve disagreed with it even (with all due respect) when it’s been broached here at MSNBC.
There is a troubling trend of conservatives leaning on Black media figures and media outlets that target Black audiences, particularly tabloids and rappers, to spread their viewpoint. Successive elections have shown conservatives to be out of touch with most Black voters. Pew Research projects that this November, there will be more than 34 million eligible Black voters, and a whopping 92% of Black voters favored Biden in 2020.
Yet, the GOP is trying to make inroads by leaning on some of the Black community’s least trustworthy voices when it comes to politics. Republicans evidently believe rappers, YouTubers and raunchy radio hosts are the best tools to chip away at that advantage. All while the party engages in overtly anti-Black acts such as suppressing Black votes and restricting access to books about Black history.
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