Republican nominee Donald Trump has prioritized getting a greater share of the Black vote in 2024, though one group has remained cool to him.
CBS News polling finds more than nine in 10 Black women voters are backing Democrat Kamala Harris in the presidential election, in line with most other surveys. Ninety percent of Black women voters supported Joe Biden in 2020, according to exit polls.
That hasn’t stopped Trump from trying to lure them to the GOP tent; in August, his campaign released a video online showing 16 Black women explaining why they would not vote for Harris.
But according to MeidasTouch, all but one were plants — MAGA operatives or influencers. The video remains on Trump’s official YouTube page, accompanied by the hashtag #ImNotWithHer.
As a bonus, several of the women featured mispronounce the vice president’s first name.
“Donald Trump made me proud to be an American,” says Jasmine Woodson. The video neglects to mention she is a recruiting manager for Blexit, a conservative campaign to “liberate” Black voters from the Democrat Party founded by far-right firebrand Candace Owens. She’s attended Trump rallies and even visited Mar-a-Lago.
Another Blexit employee, Arizona State Director Lala Andrews, also appears on the video.
“I and millions of other Black Americans will cast my vote for Donald J. Trump,” says Bebe Diamond from New York City. Just your average Black female voter? Not quite.
She is the communications director of Mordecai Mission, a pro-Trump faith group mentioned above. On her Facebook page, Diamond has attacked Democrats as “evil” and has insisted “Trump won in 2020.”
Others featured include:
Silo, an anti-vaccine, pro-Trump social media influencer known as “@antivaxbarbie” on X. On her TikTok account she sells fake Kamala mailers and Trump T-shirts;
Karen Watson is a former vice chairman of the Dallas County Republican Party and author of the book “Black and Republican in the Age of Obama”;
Dana Galen, chairperson of the Hillsborough County GOP in Florida, a post she’s held since 2018;
And Angelina Banks, who has run for office as a Republican in Maryland in multiple times. Two other failed GOP candidates for office, Tamara Mitchell and Natalie Rivera, also appear in the video.
Brenda Thaim was unnamed in the ad, perhaps because she was a Republican member of the Maryland House of Delegates from 2020-23.
Critics were furious but not surprised by the revelation.
“And once again we see Donald Trump cheating to try and win an election,” wrote one user on X.
*Everything about Maga is fake. Everything!! Why do so many people fall for this s***!,” questioned another.
“Another Trump con job? Say it ain’t so!,” added another, sarcastically
And once again we see Donald Trump cheating to try and win an election.
— The World View (@thenewsscreener) October 31, 2024
The criticisms were in the hundreds but not everyone saw the con job coming. The video received some mention. NBC News published an article on it, reporting the Trump campaign’s claim the women featured were former Democrats or independents who became Republicans because of Trump.
“Black voters have been taken for granted by the Democratic Party for years, but President Trump’s message is resonating at historic levels because he is doing the work and meeting voters where they are,” Janiyah Thomas, director of the Trump campaign’s Black media outreach, is quoted by NBC.
The 45th president has long had a fractious relationship with women, particularly Black women. In an interview Thursday with NBC, Harris, referencing Trump’s recent comments about protecting women “whether they like it or not,” lashed out at her opponent.
“His latest comment is just the most recent in a series of examples that we have seen from him in his words and deeds about how he devalues the ability of women to have the choice and the freedom to make decisions about their own body,” Harris said.
