Immigrants and refugees are taking jobs from black workers. Undocumented criminals prey on American women. Muslims pose a threat to gays and lesbians.
For Donald Trump, appealing to minority groups and women often amounts to an “us vs. them” proposition — warning one group that they are being threatened or victimized by another, using exaggerated contrasts and a very broad brush.
“Poor Hispanics and African-American citizens are the first to lose a job or see a pay cut when we don’t control our borders,” Trump said at a rally last week in Akron, Ohio, adding that blacks in particular should vote for him because their lives are so terrible: “What do you have to lose? You’ll be able to walk down the street without getting shot. Right now, you walk down the street, you get shot.”
From the start of his campaign, Trump has shaped his message around who is to blame for America’s problems — often pointing the finger at illegal immigrants, Black Lives Matter activists and other minorities in a pitch that was aimed primarily at white Republicans.
But now, as Trump seeks to reach out to women and minorities who favor Democrat Hillary Clinton, the GOP nominee has increasingly taken to pitting one group against the other in a bid for support. It’s not clear how well it will work: Many minority voters, already turned off by months of blunt and polarizing statements, still hear the language of separation in Trump’s words.
“Look, I just think a lot of his views are very ignorant,” said Crystal Woods-Brookes, who is black, as she folded clothes at a laundromat a few miles south of Trump’s Akron rally. “This is not our country, in his words … I believe that’s his whole purpose, to divide, to put us … against each other, make one believe the other side is better.”
“I believe now he’s trying to change because — it’s not about black people, it’s about the votes,” she added. “He’s already made his point quite clear…”
Trump and his team insist that he wants to be an “inclusive” president, and he is in the midst of an outreach effort that includes a new stump speech and meetings with blacks, Latinos and others.
Amid criticism for pitching to minority voters while speaking to overwhelmingly white audiences, Trump will hold a question-and-answer session Saturday at the Great Faith Ministries in Detroit, which has a primarily black congregation. It will be the first of many such events at black and Latino community centers, according to the campaign.
For the most part, though, Trump’s message has not resonated yet with either minorities or women, who strongly favor Clinton in opinion polls. Most also think Trump is biased against those groups, polls show.
