As conservatives try to cope with the reality that their leader, Donald Trump, is facing a wave of federal and state indictments, they’re clinging to desperate hopes that the criminal charges will help his electoral chances.
And following Trump’s arrest in Georgia on charges related to his efforts to overturn the state’s 2020 presidential election, conservative media figures have trotted out a particularly desperate line: that Trump is going to win over more Black voters than previously thought because he’s been arrested.
The lie about Black folks being attracted to alleged criminality didn't die with Rush Limbaugh, you see. It lives on in the conservative movement — only now, they're framing this as a good thing instead of suggesting it could destroy the country.
Online and on conservative television, Republicans have embraced the “Black voters will love this” line as a form of copium to help them deal with the pain of the former president’s arrest.
The lie about Black folks being attracted to alleged criminality didn't die with Rush Limbaugh.
"Black Americans online — some of them are saying I’m voting for Trump now because they too have sometimes felt they’ve been unfairly targeted by the criminal justice system," Fox News host Jesse Watters claimed on Friday, a day after Trump was booked in Georgia.
Watters suggested, without evidence, that the indictment could swing enough Black voters to Trump's side to help him win in 2024.
"That's the election right there," he said.
Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo told host Laura Ingraham that same night he heard from "one Black lady" that Trump's arrest means he's a "gangsta." Fox News Dude didn't get Black Lady's name, though, so I'd take his account with a grain of salt. Nonetheless, Arroyo claimed Trump's arrest gives him "cred among a new bloc of voters."
Fox News didn't corner the market on right-wing delusion, however.
Newsmax host Grant Stinchfield said Thursday that he believes "many Black men" will find Trump's arrest "endearing," dubiously comparing the former president's legal plight to the unfair policing tactics experienced by some Black people.
Trump lovers are leapfrogging some pretty obvious facts to make these claims.
Stinchfield's caveat spoke to the awkwardness of conservatives, who often deny the existence of unfair policing, now alleging the idea of it could boost Trump's electoral chances.
Laura Loomer, a far-right activist with a history of making racist statements, also chimed in last week, tweeting that Trump being booked in "the blackest jail [in] the state of Georgia" made him "the most relatable man on the ballot for the black community."
There’s plenty more numbskulled conjecture online, alluding to Trump having so-called street cred among Black voters.
Conservative commentator Dinesh D'Souza claimed mug shots “can be an iconic symbol” in the “urban black community." He declared Trump the “ultimate gangsta in our culture” — akin to the late rap icon Tupac Shakur.
Needless to say, Trump lovers are leapfrogging some pretty obvious facts to make these claims. Like the fact that Trump is accused of attempting to disqualify votes from throngs of Black people who voted against him in 2020. Or the fact that Trump and allies terrorized Shaye Moss and her mother, Ruby Freeman — two Georgia election workers who faced false accusations of election fraud. Or the fact that Trump has denied the existence of systemic racism. Or the fact that Trump has endorsed police brutality.
But if you don’t trust Black people’s intelligence to begin with — if you don’t believe in their ability to discern fact from fiction — it’s easy to assume that many of them would be fine voting for a criminally indicted hatemonger like Trump just because he’s been arrested.
There's no actual evidence that Trump's arrest will help him win over Black voters. But Republicans appear to be desperate enough to believe in that fiction.