EVEN NOW, TRUMP BELIEVES BLACK VOTERS WILL LEAD HIM TO VICTORY IN NOVEMBER

At a time when President Trump is calling for a merciless crackdown on protests against racist policing while COVID-19 is disproportionately killing more non-whites than whites, this tweet, posted yesterday afternoon, is the one he's chosen to pin at the top of his Twitter feed:



Donald Trump believes he's going to increase his share of the black vote in November -- even now. It's why he began his blood-and guts Rose Garden speech on Monday by saying, "All Americans are rightly sickened and revolted by the brutal death of George Floyd. My administration is fully committed that for George and his family, justice will be served. He will not have died in vain." It's why he declared, prior to that, that "MAGA loves the black people" -- no, really, he thought that would be received as sincere outreach. Yamiche Alcindor has also reported on another attempt at outreach that's under consideration, which I imagine he also believes will be received well:

Right now, the president has not made clear what his plans are to deal with policing....

What I do know is that there's possibly a task force being formed by the White House that might be headed up by HUD Secretary Ben Carson.

Trump won 8% of the black vote in 2016, but he had a 14% approval rating among blacks in a February NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, including a 24% approval rating among black men. (This is not the only survey reporting that non-white males like Trump more than non-white females.)

Jared Kushner is urging outreach, according to Maggie Haberman and Annie Karni of The New York Times.

Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, has pushed the efforts in the hope that even if Mr. Trump could increase his share of the black vote by as little as two percentage points, it could make a difference in the November election’s final outcome. Republicans and some Democrats privately see those efforts as aimed at reassuring suburban white voters who may not feel comfortable supporting Mr. Trump because of his divisiveness related to race.

And so

[Trump's] campaign poured $10 million into a Super Bowl ad featuring a black woman and highlighting the administration’s efforts on criminal justice reform. Trump advisers held events at the White House celebrating Mr. Trump’s support for historically black colleges. The advisers sought to turn the low unemployment rate into a selling point to African-American voters, claiming they had more opportunities for jobs with higher wages.

In February, it was reported that the Trump campaign had opened field offices in predominantly black communities in fifteen cities.

It's hard to believe now that this will work. It's easy to imagine that younger black voters -- and other young voters in general -- might fail to turn out for Joe Biden, but I can't imagine that there'll be a surge of support for Trump among young black males after the year America has had.

But Jared and his father-in-law are free to keep dreaming.