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Black Votes Count: President Trump and the Midterm Elections

Black Votes Count: President Trump and the Midterm Elections
Singer Kanye West and President-elect Donald Trump speak with the press after their meeting at Trump Tower in New York on Dec. 13, 2016. TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images
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Will President Donald Trump’s courtship of black voters yield enough votes to make a difference in the November midterm elections? That is the question of the hour. In any event, Republican time spent wooing black voters might have a huge payoff, given the tendency of Democrats to take their most loyal constituency for granted.

What is the Trump strategy for agitating observant Democrats? The president is using his record of accomplishments and his connections with high-profile former Democrats, such as Steve Harvey, Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Dennis Rodman, and YouTube vloggers Diamond and Silk, to get the attention of the black electorate and raise the ire of onlookers.
Carol M. Swain
Carol M. Swain
Author
Dr. Carol Swain, an award-winning political scientist and former tenured professor at Princeton and Vanderbilt Universities, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow for Constitutional Studies with the Texas Public Policy Foundation and the co-author of "Black Eye for America: How Critical Race Theory is Burning Down the House."