Performative outreach won’t win Black women
Trump and JD Vance trying to pander to “African American ladies” for votes is honestly just embarrassing. Let’s be clear: Black women are consistently, statistically the group least likely to vote for Trump - literally single digits in 2024, same as every election before. So when Trump starts in with his “beautiful ladies” line, acting like Black women in Chicago are begging him to visit, it’s pure fantasy. We aren’t some imaginary welcoming committee, and anyone who looks at the numbers knows he’s been overwhelmingly rejected by Black voters, especially women. If you’re tempted to argue “but more Black people voted for Trump this time,” save it - Black women are still dead last in support, no matter how you slice the data. What really got me was watching JD Vance’s reaction when Trump started up with that routine. Vance was bouncing on his feet, then just froze, looking like a deer in headlights, sporting that greasy, try-hard smirk. He always gives off this “wannabe henchman” vibe - like Gríma Wormtongue from Lord of the Rings, if Wormtongue was less clever and more desperate to please his boss. Honestly, he looks like he knows he’s just waiting in the wings, counting down the days until Trump’s health fails so he can step in and finish the Heritage Foundation and Peter Thiel’s agenda, all while pretending to care about the rest of us. And I can’t help but notice conservatives keep shifting their language, suddenly all about “African American” after years of saying “the blacks,” as if a word swap can cover for the same old disrespect. It’s always performative, always about trying to co-opt or twist whatever terms Black folks actually use - just like they did with “woke,” turning it into a punchline. As a Black woman who just moved to Chicago (honestly, mainly for the public transit), I see right through this act. These guys are so transparent in their attempts to drag us back to the “good old days” and dress it up as outreach, but it’s just more proof they don’t hear or respect Black Americans at all.