(ThyBlackMan.com) Last week’s racist rant by radical liberal Democrat presidential candidate, Joe Biden, once again exposed both the Republican Party’s and Trump’s reelection campaign’s Achille’s heel.
For nearly four years I have constantly criticized Trump and the party for not having any strategic communications strategy directed towards the Black community. I have also warned that race would be the dominant factor of the 2020 presidential campaign.
Conservatives are totally unprepared and unqualified to deal with any issue involving race; this is why they blew a golden opportunity to earn standing within the Black community when Biden slipped up and told the world how he really feels about the Black community.
Last week Biden was interviewed on the Breakfast Club radio show which targets the Black community. He stated, “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t Black.”
The former vice president did something that most radical liberal elitist all do at some point in their lives; show what they really think about Blacks.
The Trump campaign trotted out one of their resident Blacks, Katrina Pierson, with an extremely anemic, weak statement. Pierson is the Trump 2020 campaign’s senior advisor. She stated, “White liberal elitists have continuously dictated which Black Americans are allowed to come to the table and have a voice. It is clear now more than ever, following these racist and dehumanizing remarks, that Joe Biden believes Black men and women are incapable of being independent or free thinking. He truly believes that he, a 77-year-old white man, should dictate how Black people should behave. Biden has a history of racial condescension and today he once again proved what a growing number of Black Americans and I have always known: Joe Biden does not deserve our votes.”
These words communicated no meaning whatsoever to the Black community; and there was absolutely no call to action. The campaign figured that they had to say something, even if they said nothing!!!
Katrina, the few Blacks that is even aware of your statement were asking themselves, so what? What do you want me to do? Again, there was no call to action!
Seriously blown opportunity.
Pierson is a beast when it comes to defending the president; but she is not a communications strategist. If I am in a media war, I definitely want Katrina in the foxhole with me. She is phenomenal on camera, but not so much behind the camera.
She has more of a connection with the white community than she does with the Black community. Again, having a Black on staff is not the same as having the right Black on staff!
I have represented and worked with some of the biggest names in sports, entertainment, politics and business all over the world regarding strategic communications, crises management and speechwriting. I have coined the phrase “straticist,” which is the merging of strategic communications and public relations.
I have told the White House and the campaign incessantly that they need to have a rapid response team (RRT) within the Black community that can be engaged in real time at a moment’s notice.
These must be “real” Blacks who have credibility with the Black community and institutional memory within the party.
People like Candance Owens and Diamond and Silk need to just sit down; they have absolutely no standing within the Black community. These other “quasi” Black conservatives were all over social media. Click on the link above to read some of their idiotic comments. Only two or three of them have any connection to the Black community; the rest are simply media whores.
They measure success by the number of tweets, followers, and likes; I measure success by winning!
At the present moment, I see absolutely no strategy to move the Black vote in any meaningful way by November. Unless this changes rapidly Trump will receive well below the eight percent of the Black vote he received in 2016.
As I flipped through all the cable news channels over the past few days, I didn’t see one “credible” Black Republican surrogate from the campaign; nor anyone from the White House.
So, the Trump campaign decides to waste one million dollars on a digital ad buy to highlight Biden’s ignorant comments from last week. Blacks who can influence the Black vote are not on social media, so the return on the campaign’s money will be negligible at best.
Millennials cannot move the Black vote, let me REPEAT, millennials cannot move the Black vote. They have no standing within the Black community and they DON’T vote.
Social media and statistics move minds; relationships and effective communication move votes and hearts.
Unfortunately, you have far too many whites in the party and campaign who think they know more about the Black community than “real” Blacks.
Biden has provided a gaping opportunity for both the campaign and the White House to have meaningful, substantive conversations with the Black community.
They must talk to and be seen with successful entrepreneurs like Dr. John Sibley Butler in Austin; Steve Davis in Chicago; Dr. Keenan Grenell in Milwaukee; Carvin Haggins in Philadelphia; James White in Hillister; Lynn Hutchings in Cheyenne and Jennifer Carroll in Jacksonville, to name a few.
They must be seen engaging with people like this everyday on radio, TV, and in newspapers. They must be seen briefing senior level White House staffers and the president and vice president.
The Trump campaign and the Republican Party has a “brand” problem; so until they rehabilitate it’s image within the Black community, these ads will be like the sounding brass or a tingling cymbal, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Staff Writer; Raynard Jackson
This talented brother is a Pulitzer Award nominated columnist and founder and chairman of Black Americans for a Better Future (BAFBF), a federally registered 527 Super PAC established to get more Blacks involved in the Republican Party. BAFBF focuses on the Black entrepreneur. For more information about BAFBF, visit www.bafbf.org. You can follow Raynard on Twitter; Raynard1223.
