“Donald Trump had little to nothing to do with the drop in unemployment for African-Americans."
CNN host Don Lemon is attacking black Trump supporters because he claims they are turning a blind eye to the president's so-called "racist behavior." He scolded them for prioritizing the economy over comments Trump has made.
Lemon attempted to downplay the fact that black unemployment in the United States is at a historic low, while trying to make an argument that any credit for "black prosperity" should go to former President Barack Obama.
Panelist Keith Boykin said, “It started going down though in the Obama administration. It was 16.8 percent in March of 2010. And it dropped to 7.8 percent; a 54 percent reduction under President Obama.”
He continued, “And Trump while … while this was happening denied that it was even happening. He called the numbers fake news; until he came into office and suddenly all the numbers he said were fake were magically real. And so, he took credit for the momentum that has … has occurred since that time.”
Here's where Lemon chimed in, “So, we have 8.9 percent in the Obama presidency and down by 2.5 percent in this presidency, as you said, it is good news. It is a good trend. But it didn’t start under this President and the numbers actually declined much stronger under the former President.”
Lemon proceeded to ask the panelists joining him how they think black voters could reconcile the low unemployment with Trump's "racism."
“I think the message is something that does not resonate with black communities and brown communities simply because of the rhetoric that has come out of the White House,” Joseph Pinion responded, “And so, I think I said almost two years ago to the day on this program that if someone spits in your face and then hands you a napkin, you don’t get to say thank you.”
“As you say, if someone spits in your face and hands you a napkin, how…what is that supposed to…I don’t understand that argument,” Lemon replied. “Does that mean that the only part of your brain, or the only part of our being that matters is money? Rather than how someone treats you and what someone says about you?”
“Donald Trump had little to nothing to do with the drop in unemployment for African-Americans,” Boykin concluded and they all agreed.
“No one can … no one who talks about this in the Republican Party can cite a single policy contributed by Donald Trump that is responsible for the drop in black unemployment. It’s all because of policies that … that started long ago." He added, "It wasn’t the tax cut or anything like that. Policies started long ago in the Obama administration when we started to see the drop. And the other thing is that Obama had the good sense not to go out and brag about it every time that there was a drop in unemployment because he knew that it’s still too high compared to the white unemployment rate.”
