Vice President Kamala Harris warned Black men not to support Donald Trump as president, suggesting they were falling for a false promise that the former president cared about them.
Harris discussed Trump and his appeal to black men in an interview published Monday with former NFL star Shannon Sharpe on her ‘Club Shay Shay’ podcast.
‘Don’t think you’re in Donald Trump’s club… you’re not. “He won’t think about you,” Harris said. “Do you think he’ll take you out to dinner?”
Harris appeared on the podcast and toasted Sharpe with a glass of Le Portier cognac, but said she wouldn’t drink it, citing the need to stay awake for a rally with former President Barack Obama later that day.
Kamala Harris spoke about the election with former NBA star Shannon Sharpe on her podcast
Recent polls show Harris struggling to get the same level of support from black men as her predecessors.
Polls reveal that Barack Obama won 81 percent of black men ages 18 to 44, while the share fell to 63 percent under Hillary Clinton, 53 percent under Joe Biden and 41 percent under Harris.
Harris argued that she cared more about black men because she was working to address colon and prostate cancer, not Trump.
She said, ‘Do you think when he goes, when he’s with his friends, his billionaire friends, he’s thinking about what we need to do to address, for example, my work around what I’m doing to address disparities in the population? black? Men’s health around colon cancer, around what we should do, around screening, around what we should do around prostate cancer?
Harris urged Black men to ignore Trump’s place in popular culture and focus on who he would be as president.
“Let’s not get distracted by thinking about who he was on The Apprentice, let’s not get distracted by any building in any city that has his name on it,” he said.
Harris specifically addressed the “myth” that Trump sent people a stimulus check during the coronavirus pandemic, arguing that it was Black Democrats in the Democratic-majority Congress who pushed it to become law.
“People like Maxine Watters, people like Hakeem Jeffries,” he said. ‘Remember that Congress has the wallet. Congress issued those checks,” he said.
Democratic presidential candidate US Vice President Kamala Harris toasts former NFL star Shannon Sharpe.
He accused Trump of refusing to rent property to black families in the past, running an ad condemning the Central Park Five and reminding audiences of his “birtherism” questioning of President Barack Obama’s birth certificate.
“He has not earned the right to be president of the United States,” Harris said.
She appeared defensive about her record as vice president, pointing out the “misinformation” that was being spread online.
“To be honest, I think there’s unfortunately misinformation out there about who I am and what I’ve done,” Harris said. “Because if people are informed about the facts, they will know that almost everything I talk about doing as president is based on a foundation of work that I have been doing for years.”
He also highlighted Trump’s comment about immigrants stealing “black jobs.”
US First Lady Michelle Obama speaks during a rally with US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris at the Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Former US President Barack Obama applauds US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris during a campaign rally at James R Hallford Stadium in Clarkston, Georgia.
“Let me tell you what I define as black labor,” he said. “Vice President of the United States,” he said.
Harris and Sharpe argued about her age, after he noted that she was “a couple of years older than me,” during a conversation about music.
The comment sparked a strong reaction from the vice president.
‘Let’s go now! I’m your guest!’ he said laughing. ‘Keep moving because I’ll give you a shovel in a minute!’
Harris has stepped up her outreach to Black voters, as a new TIPP tracking poll shows Trump making “significant inroads” among Black voters.
The poll showed an eight-point increase over the past two weeks among black voters who support Trump. The TIPP tracking poll surveyed 1,288 likely voters.
Former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama have also stepped up their campaign activity, and Black voters expressed disappointment that Black men would even consider voting for Trump instead of Harris.
Michelle Obama specifically spoke to black voters about voting for Trump, suggesting it would be a betrayal of their ancestors on the issue of civil rights.
“I’m praying that those of us who are contemplating voting for Trump or not voting at all will come out of the fog we’re in,” he said. ‘I pray that we consider the decades of sacrifice and struggle of all our ancestors, the people who marched, sacrificed and shed their blood for us. We have to ask ourselves: Is voting for Trump, or not voting, the way we honor their lives?
Barack Obama sparked controversy in early October after suggesting that black men were being sexist or misogynistic by refusing to support Harris.
“Part of this makes me think that, well, you just don’t fancy the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re proposing other alternatives and other reasons for it,” she said.