Around this time eight years ago, Donald Trump believed he had a chance to make real inroads with Black voters, despite his lengthy record of overt racism. “Look at how much African-American communities are suffering from Democratic control,” the then-candidate said in reference to Barack Obama’s presidency. “To those I say the following: what do you have to lose by trying something new like Trump? What do you have to lose?”
New York magazine’s Jon Chait noted soon after, “In reality, things could definitely get worse, and it’s very easy to imagine that an ignorant, racist demagogue as president would indeed have this very effect.”
With the benefit of hindsight, we now know that Chait was right. Soon after taking office, Trump not only ignited ugly racial controversies, the Republican also took steps to hurt urban investment and block enforcement of a federal housing policy that requires communities to address patterns of racial residential segregation.
As Trump’s term continued, Black voters suffered greater losses. The Atlantic’s David Graham explained in 2019, “Trump has sabotaged a law that guaranteed health insurance for many African Americans. He has undermined protections for voting rights. His Justice Department has stopped going after police departments that discriminated against African Americans. He has rolled back environmental protections. Beyond policy, he has used rhetoric that suggests the citizenship of African Americans and other minorities is conditional and less than that of white Americans.”
By 2020, Black communities were also feeling the brunt of the Covid crisis that Trump tragically mismanaged, as well as the consequent recession that caused widespread harm during the Republican’s final year in office.
It’s against this backdrop that the presumptive GOP nominee, encouraged by polling showing a surprising number of African-American voters giving Trump a fresh look, is recycling his rhetoric from 2016.
Trump on his pitch to African Americans: "What they hell do you have to lose? You're the worst on income, you're the worst on crime … they agreed with me." pic.twitter.com/He2e3fg1vt
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 22, 2024
Speaking to a largely white audience in Washington, D.C., this past weekend, the former president once again said he had a familiar question for Black voters: “What they hell do you have to lose?”








