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Years ago, my brother and I returned home for Christmas, me from medical school and Nick from law school.
The dinner time conversation turned to presidential politics and Dad, Nick and I all agreed that Jimmy Carter had to go. Nick and I liked Reagan. But my father said, “It’s time for Cuomo [the Democratic Governor of New York at the time] to jump into the ring.”
I looked at my father with exasperation and said, “Dad, Cuomo supports everything you despise. He’s pro-abortion. He favors that insane nuclear freeze movement. He wants to raise your taxes to support all those people on welfare. How can you possibly support Cuomo?”
My father, a college professor, a PhD and a brilliant man responded: “I know. But he’s Italian.”
Blood is thicker than water.
President Trump is now in the process of picking his Vice President. No one has any idea who he will choose. But the Black Senator from South Carolina, Tim Scott, is reportedly being given serious consideration because not only is he a solid conservative; but has a proven track record of attracting unusually high Black support even though he is a Republican.
Blacks were once hard-core Republicans because Lincoln, a Republican, freed the slaves. The state Republican Parties in the South were dominated by Blacks in the early 1900s. As president, Teddy Roosevelt, outraged northern Wall Street Republicans calling them “malefactors of great wealth.” He would not have been renominated in 1904 had not southern Black Republicans supported him.
But as historian Leah Wright Rigueur pointed out in her brilliant book “The Loneliness of the Black Republican,” the depression of the 1930s disproportionately decimated Black households. Franklin Roosevelt’s public work programs and policies saved many Blacks from destitution and since the 1930s, Blacks have been loyal Democrats. Furthermore, Democratic programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid have helped many blacks have health care and old age security. Affirmative action in government jobs has raised countless blacks into the middle class. Thus, it is not unusual for Blacks to vote over 90% Democratic in Presidential elections.
President Trump made a significant dent in this landslide. In 2016, he received only 8% of the Black vote but in 2020, he received 12%, a 50% increase. Present polling shows that Trump is receiving anywhere from 17% to 23% of the Black vote and should this hold, it will be almost impossible for him to lose.
The reasons for this are life was easier for Blacks during the Trump presidency, as inflation was lower and illegal immigrants welcomed by the Biden administration were not taking their jobs and increasing their housing prices. And the lawfare against Trump has struck a chord, especially in young Black males, who believe they are unfairly targeted by the police. Even Tim Scott has been stopped by the Capitol Police when he has been walking around the Capitol and has been forced to show his ID badge indicating that he is a US Senator.
Senatorial elections in South Carolina have demonstrated that Scott can appeal to Black voters. While South Carolina’s other Senator Lindsey Graham received only 54% of the vote against a Black Democrat in 2020, Scott received 66% against a Black Democrat. This disparity is due to Scott’s greater appeal to Black voters.
But will this appeal transfer to Trump if Scott is the Vice-Presidential pick? Who knows? But it certainly won’t hurt.
While the present Vice President, Kamala Harris portrays herself as Black, unlike Scott, she is not a black Black. She has Caucasian features and the only difference between her skin color and mine is a week at the beach. Furthermore, Tim Scott is a descendent of slaves whereas Harris’s ancestors in Jamacia were slave owners.
Whether most Blacks will care about this will not be known unless Trump chooses Scott. But it is safe to say that a certain percentage of Blacks will view the world as my father, with a tendency to trust their own kind, even if there are ideological differences.
