But the Trump campaign isn’t without a strategy.
According to Theodore Johnson, a senior fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice, where he studies the role of race in electoral politics, figures such as Walker and 50 Cent share a few meaningful characteristics.
“If you’re a Republican presidential candidate, you recognize that most Black people aren’t going to vote for you. But the most likely segment of Black people to vote for you is Black men, and a particular sort of Black man,” Johnson told CNN. “It wasn’t surprising that after Trump became the President-elect, a parade of Black men — celebrities and athletes including Steve Harvey, Ray Lewis and Kanye West — went into Trump Tower. If you’re a Black man and a celebrity or an athlete, that usually means that the money you have is new and that you grew up either poor or working class.”
Johnson believes that there’s something about this brew of economic security, hypermasculinity and bootstrap self-determination — “he has accomplished so much almost all by himself,” Walker says of the President in a spot airing on Black radio stations — that can make Trump resonate with some Black men.
“From broke to having brokers, my price range is Rover / Now I’m knocking like Jehovah, let me in now, let me in now,” Nelly says on his 2000 song “Country Grammar.” “Bill Gates, Donald Trump, let me in now.”
Far from being a scrub, Nelly on the track is a pioneer, barging into the White boys’ club of the ultra-rich and famous.
It’s important to underscore that, in all likelihood, Trump will win no more than about 15% of votes from Black men, because most will back Biden. Indeed, when it comes to loyalty to the Democratic Party, Black men are second only to Black women.
Price added that “the power of this siphoning strategy is surgical. In the wake of grave concerns about voter suppression, fears about mail-in ballots and the continued impact of the pandemic, close political races are increasingly less predictable.”
While seemingly small, the series might be just the kind of venue the Biden campaign needs to animate a crucial constituency and blunt its opponent’s reelection efforts.
“If you know that man who likes Trump’s machismo and supposed business acumen, ask him: Do you know anyone who’s died from Covid-19? If he’s in an urban area, he’s probably going to answer yes,” Johnson told CNN. “Ask him: Do you know anyone who’s lost their job because of Covid-19? He’s probably going to answer yes. What you do is contrast the perception of Trump with the reality of his governance and say that the best thing you can do for your life is to put new leadership in place.”