Feb 28, 2024 - 14:05
By huffpost.com

RNC’s First Black Chair Busts Donald Trump’s Claim About Black Voters

Michael Steele, who was the first Black chair of the Republican National Committee, took Donald Trump to task over his widely condemned comments at a Black Conservative Federation gala at the weekend.

Four-times-indicted Trump, during his speech, suggested people liked him because they empathized with the legal woes he faces.

On Tuesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Steele expressed doubt the Republican 2024 front-runner could convince Black voters to back him.

“With Trump, there is nothing there substantively because of his own history that would tell me that I would have something to gain with him,” he said. “That’s been proven time and time again as you listen to him talk to Black people as if they’re not there.”

Steele continued, “When I hear him say ‘the Black people,’ it reminds me of some 1950s redneck who is referring to them, ‘other,’ even though they’re in the room.”

Steele led the RNC from 2009 until 2011. He is now a vocal critic of Trump and backed President Joe Biden in the 2020 election.

Trump’s narrative is that “he thinks so little of the Black community that he [believes he] can get our vote with giving us greater access to menthol cigarettes and a nice pair of gold lamé sneakers,” Steele explained.

But instead, the current GOP was just indulging in “pandering BS” to the Black community, he added.

“Nothing about health disparities in Black neighborhoods. Nothing about the education disparities in Black neighborhoods,” Steele noted. “Nothing about the mortality rate among Black women and babies. Nothing about fair housing.”