The fact that former President Donald Trump suffered a gunshot wound at the hands of a would-be assassin prompted a Forbes contributor to speculate whether that would make the presumptive 2024 Republican nominee more appealing to black voters.
Forbes scrambled to delete the opinion article titled, Will Surviving Gunfire Be Donald Trump’s Next Appeal To Black Voters?, which was written by Shaun Harper, a professor at USC’s Rossier School of Education, who bills himself as a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) “expert.”
Journalism is broken. pic.twitter.com/eatpQr1JwU
— Christopher Bouzy (spoutible.com/cbouzy) (@cbouzy) July 14, 2024
Harper apparently thinks that black voters are more likely to be involved in shootings and, therefore, will now relate with Trump, fretting that the iconic bloody image of the former president raising his fist in defiance of the attempt on his life may resonate in a world that granted George Floyd sainthood.
“The presumptive Republican presidential nominee has repeatedly contended that the August 2023 release of his criminal mugshot deeply resonated with Black voters because they know firsthand the unfairness of our nation’s criminal justice system,” the DEI expert wrote. “Hopefully, being shot doesn’t become a similarly problematic strategy to link Trump with an experience that far too many Black people have.”
“Another racially problematic kinship narrative is unlikely to make Black voters see Trump as one of them. And it most certainly won’t fix the gun violence,” he added.
But it’s the photos of a bloodied Trump standing in defiance that have the left-wing professor lying awake at night.
He wrote, “After winning gold and bronze medals for their spectacular performances in the men’s 200-meter race at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, American track athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised gloved fists as they stood on the podium. Hopefully, Trump doesn’t claim that his raised fist was an homage to Smith and Carlos, two powerful Black Americans.”
The passage resonated with unhinged leftist Keith Olbermann:
You missed the best part pic.twitter.com/d68dbpoShR
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) July 14, 2024
Of course, if Olbermann is signing off on the op-ed, you can be assured that regular folks are not. In fact, it was because the blowback was so intense that Forbes scrubbed the piece entirely.
Here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story, as seen on the social media platform X:
This is so racist I almost can’t even believe it.
— Isaiah Winters (@isaiahrwnyc) July 14, 2024
@DrShaunHarper this is embarrassing, desperate, and disrespectful. It undermines the credentials and institutions you tout as well, not to mention the Black and brown folks you claim to serve in your work.
— Zach (@RevNunnWisdom) July 14, 2024
Forbes put this out an hour ago
You do not hate the Media enough pic.twitter.com/G6h4xTRbhr
— Ashley St. Clair (@stclairashley) July 14, 2024
Uh @DrShaunHarper I’m gonna need you to step to the front of the Black congregation and explain this asinine headline in your Forbes article.
Cause this sounds stupid just reading it. ♂️ pic.twitter.com/jSx4pHfmhs
— Isaac Hayes III (@IsaacHayes3) July 14, 2024
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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