Sports journalist Stephen A. Smith on Thursday talked to Fox News host Sean Hannity about the growing black support for former President Donald Trump.
Hannity began:
We look at polls. Polls are always broken down demographically and you see this major erosion in the Democratic base for Biden, African-Americans, Hispanic Americans, young people, suburban women, for example, I mean numbers that we have never seen before in terms of a Democrat. If he doesn’t get his base back, which I would argue he has been trying to do, starting with the State of the Union in his jacked-up address, he has no shot. And if Donald Trump can hold onto five, 10, or 15% of the numbers he has now, he will win the next election. Why is that happening?
“The streets don’t seem safe, and people want safety. We can sit up there and lament law and order, which is what Donald Trump used to verbalize, but the fact is that the American people like law and order. We want our streets safe,” Smith began. “We want to make sure that if you commit a crime, you get to go to jail. You don’t sit up there and get arrested and you’re out the same day. You don’t want to assault people and you’re out the same day, that’s number one.
“Obviously, number two, the economy, which is usually number one because people have to understand this when it comes, especially the black folks; let me tell you something right now, Sean, when you’re talking about the economy to black folks, that means money,” Smith continued.
“To everybody, it means money, but especially to us, who are no longer the dominant minority in this country, those are the Latinos. When we talk about the economy, we’re not talking about the state of affairs economically or even the job participation rate. We’re talking about the money that you keep in your pocket when you go to the gas station and it’s exorbitant prices and you go to the supermarket and milk and bread and cheese, and this other stuff is exorbitantly high compared to what it once was,” Smith continued.
“That is a red flag to a lot of folks because the money that you keep in your pocket is what tells you whether or not the economy is flourishing or not,” he said.
Smith then went into an “uncomfortable” phase with what he had to say next.
“Dare I say something that may be termed the most uncomfortable thing that I’ve ever had to articulate out of my mouth from a political perspective, but I’ve got to tell you something. As much as people may have been abhorred by Donald Trump’s statement weeks ago talking about how black folks — he is hearing that black folks find him relatable because of what he is going through it is similar to what black Americans have gone through he wasn’t lying, he was telling the truth,” Smith continued.
“When you see the law and law enforcement and the court system and everything else being exercised against him, it is something that black folks throughout this nation can relate to with some of our historic, iconic figures,” Smith said.
“We’ve seen that happen throughout society. So no matter what race or ethnicity you may emanate from, we relate to you when you are suffering like that because we know that we have, and that is what he articulated. As unpopular as it wasn’t, as much as we don’t like to hear it, it’s the truth, and there’s no way around it,” he added.
WATCH:
Stephen A. Smith addresses why black voters are flocking to Trump in an interview with Fox's Hannity.
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