Bill Maher and Stephen A. Smith have revealed why Donald Trump increased his support with Black voters this presidential election cycle.
In a wide-ranging conversation for Maher’s podcast, Club Random Podcast, the two media personalities dissected how the president-elect’s language impacts voters of color.
“You know what I think Black people think about Trump? Is he a racist? Yeah, but they think every white person is kind of a racist. Do they think white people, behind closed doors, talk like Trump?” Maher, the host of Real Time on HBO, said.
“That right there!” Smith said. “That second part is very, very important.”
Smith, a frequent guest on ESPN, said he doesn’t assume white people are racist but there is an automatic understanding that they have a different lived experience.
“When you talk about how Trump talks we’re going like this: ‘So that’s the first time he talked like that? When he became president?’” Smith said. “We know better than that. We know better than that.
“We know that ain’t the first time and we know that the people he was friends for all these years, he talked just like that around y’all and y’all didn’t have no problem with it. Don’t act like you have a problem with it now.”
This election cycle, Trump made ground with Black voters nationally – especially Black men. Roughly 3 in 10 Black men, under the age of 45, voted for Trump. That is nearly double the number from the 2020 election, according to The Associated Press. He also increased support among Hispanic voters.
Though Trump is often accused of using racist, derogatory or offensive language when speaking about people or groups of people, for many voters those issues took a backseat compared to the economy, immigration and housing.
Maher, and others, have accused Democrats of failing to understand the needs of most voters and focusing too much on demographics.
“I don’t think his motivation is ‘I don’t like Black people’ I think his motivation is ‘everybody must love me,’” Maher said.
Smith agreed with Maher and said he too is frustrated that Democrats are not appealing to voters.
“The Democrats have gotten on my last damn nerve. It wasn’t for Trump I would have voted Republican because I’m so sick of how they are,” Smith said. “It’s always about the other side and engaging in demagoguery for you to get my vote as opposed to really articulating what you’re bringing to the table to offer me.”
