I love Charles Barkley, the outspoken former NBA all-star, who calls it the way he sees it. Speaking to CNN’s Michael Smerconish on Wednesday, he advised black Americans “to start holding Democrats accountable” after decades of voting solidarity with no return. Barkley claims “every black person…all those people are still poor” in spite of their voting for Democrats. Amen, brother.
To be fair, Barkley doesn’t support Trump or Republicans either, but he does advise fellow Blacks to vote their pocketbooks. When Donald Trump asked black voters “what have you got to lose” in 2016, the so-called experts laughed at him. As it turns out, minority hiring is at an all-time high, and maganomics seems to be Making Black America Great at Last.
Employment data shows minority hiring has outpaced white hiring 4 to 1 since 2016. Of the 5.2 million new jobs, 4.5 million (86%) were minority hires. In August, the black jobless rate fell to 5.5%, because the rate of unemployment for black women hit an all-time low of 4.4%. Plus, the annual poverty rate fell to 11.8% (lowest since 2001).
Not to be lost in these numbers is how the dignity of a job affects black families. Since February 2017, 6.3 million Americans have gone off food stamps, including millions of black families. This is great, because optimism abounds in households with increasing incomes, and self-respect increases in families that don’t need entitlements. This is the American Dream.
Blacks should question any Democrat who claims President Trump did not improve black employment and wages. Not only did Dems not vote for the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, they predicted doom with the end of every job-killing regulation. And, while the President cheered on the economy, the nation’s liberals waged class warfare and promised a 2020 recession.
Charles Barkley is joined by other clear-eyed African-Americans, such as the respected intellectuals Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams, who reject modern Democratic policies. Ben Carson and Clarence Thomas rose to prominence in spite of being Republicans – and black Democrats called them “Uncle Toms.” This is why Kanye West and Candace Owens wear MAGA hats and urge other black Americans to reject do-nothing Democrats.
Should political pundits be surprised by West and Owens voting for Trump in 2020? Nope – the big shock should be black voters ignoring an economy that benefits working-class minorities, and voting for Democrats – as if anything will be different this time. Sir Charles is onto the Democratic pitch: we love you every four years, but just can’t remember what we promised.
Here’s the real scandal. Democrats have no economic message for black voters, other than Sanders/Warren socialism. Apparently, the entire field is convinced they can placate black voters by repeatedly calling President Trump a white supremacist. Of course, this won’t work if black Americans feel the improving economy and see the hypocrisy of liberal elites once partying in blackface and now swearing they have changed.