"They're treating Trump like they treat black men."
/“Oh, so they’re treating Trump like they treat black men?”
I was stunned to hear those words out of my relatives’s mouth—a black female Democrat voter and lifelong Detroit resident—at a birthday party. We had gotten into many political debates in the past, so it surprised me that she voluntarily admitted to hoping the “Orange Man” came back into office, due to the performance of the Biden-Harris administration.
Another guest overheard and sharply rebuked us. “Oh, no! He’s a felon!” When I asked if she knew the details of the case, she said, “We won’t speak of it!”
I wasn’t the one who brought Trump’s felon status up, but I let it go.
After dinner, my relative came to my table, and we spoke about Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against Trump. That conversation prompted the response about Trump’s treatment being similar to black men. To break down the evil deeds of Donald Trump, I’ll quote the “Law and Order” style video the Democratic National Committee made to explain events. “He cheated on his wife with a porn star and paid her off, so the American people wouldn’t find out during an election.” Democrats literally believe Donald Trump should go to prison because his lawyer paid for a private matter with private funds, and they think he should have used campaign funds instead. Mind you, that’s not the purpose of campaign contributions. If Trump had done what they claim he should have done, Trump certainly would have been charged. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Even former New York Governor and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo admitted Trump’s case was political persecution.
Many Democrat operatives expect marginalized communities to experience schadenfreude when a powerful man like Trump gets what they think is coming to him. But the reality is that most people want real justice over social or performative justice. We’re not laughing because somebody finally got him. We’re deeply concerned because if they can bust one of the most powerful men in the world for a bogus charge, what can the system do to the average man who doesn’t have millions of followers, billions of dollars, and wasn’t previously the president?
Back when Justice Brett Kavanaugh was accused of sexual assault by Christine Blasey Ford, Jemele Hill wrote in the Atlantic that she was surprised a room full of 100 black men were sympathetic toward Kavanaugh. One man was met with head nods and applause when he stood and asked, “What about due process?” Another man argued, “If the claims were made by a white woman, expect the damage to be triple.”
Christine Blasey Ford wasn’t sure of the date, time, or location of the sexual assault, and everyone who could have been associated with the event denied it, yet then-Senator Kamala Harris—and former prosecutor—announced that she believed Ford before hearing both of their testimonies and seeing all of the evidence. She even tried to attack Kavanaugh by asking if he believed Anita Hill. Here’s a history lesson: most Americans didn’t think Anita Hill’s accusations were credible. But revisiting Hill’s accusations is a good way to reintroduce the “high-tech lynching” of Justice Clarance Thomas, who Democrats want off the bench for political reasons.
At the DNC convention, Vice President Harris was painted as the prosecutor who would finally bring justice to this corrupt politician. But to many, Harris is a poster child for injustice. In 2019, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard unleashed an effective attack on Harris by noting she locked up black men for drug charges and then went on the Breakfast Club and laughed about smoking marijuana herself. She prosecuted parents for truancy, even a mother with a sick child. When journalist David Daleiden exposed Planned Parenthood for selling baby body parts, Harris had his apartment raided and seized his property. But while Harris was tough against journalists and parents, her support of Prop 47 in 2014 led to a crime wave in California. When Harris was asked recently whether she supported Prop 36, a ballot measure that will return harsher punishments for drug and theft crimes, Harris dodged by claiming she hadn’t voted and read through the ballot yet. DA Alvin Bragg is also soft on crime and downgraded more than half of the felonies in Manhattan down to misdemeanors, yet when it came to Trump’s alleged misdemeanor that should have passed the statue of limitations, he ghetto-rigged the law until he could make it a felony.
Trump, who is not seen by his supporters as an angel by any stretch of the imagination, still comes off as authentic. Harris comes off as someone who will say anything to get elected. It’s the same criticism voters had with Hillary Clinton, an accusation originally in a 2008 Barack Obama ad. We saw this evidence in 2020. Harris set up a moment on the debate stage to accuse Joe Biden of trying to stop her from integrating into public schools by opposing bussing. After Harris was selected as Biden’s vice-presidential nominee, she repeatedly laughed and told Steven Colbert, “It was a debate.” Colbert responded with a smile, “You didn’t mean it?” She cackled and repeated the same answer.
As a Senator, Harris voted to impeach Trump twice. The DOJ under the Biden-Harris administration has indicted their political rival, which is the route Trump opted not to pursue against Hillary Clinton when he became president, for the good of the country. Harris took swipes at Trump for being a felon on the debate stage, even though her experience (which she has repeatedly inflated) should have informed her that Bragg’s case against Trump was ludicrous and likely to be overturned. Even the civil fraud case, where Trump was set to lose $489M, faced tremendous scrutiny during appeals court. The five-judge panel suggested New York Attorney General Letitia James overstepped.
Despite what you think of Trump, it’s clear that he has been mistreated. Harris is even insisting that Trump is “unstable” and unwell while insisting Biden is perfectly fine. But when Americans see Trump on long-form podcasts like Flagrant or the Joe Rogan Experience, they see a charismatic entertainer with simplistic dialogue, who occasionally offers interesting insight. Despite being a billionaire, he’s effortlessly relatable. Even viewers of Theo Von’s podcast were pleasantly surprised to learn that Ohio Senator JD Vance isn’t “weird” at all.
Voters want to be treated with respect, and lying to the American people demonstrates Harris does not respect the voters. We should have honest conversations about Trump and his flaws, but most people who dislike him believe some kind of hoax Harris promoted: Russian collusion, gassing “peaceful” protestors for a photo-op, calling neo-Nazis and white supremacists “very fine people,” etc. Trump was nearly assassinated, and they call him “Hitler” and cut ads insinuating he’ll put Asians in internment camps, like their beloved Democrat President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Even Harris’s focus on Project 2025 is dishonest; some of her complaints aren’t even in the 900-plus document. We want the truth, but Harris has decided we can’t handle it.
If the voters have to choose between the corrupt prosecutor and the mistreated felon, they’ll take a stand against the system, because if they can take down the most powerful white man in the world, minority fathers, brothers, and sons should have tremendous concerns for their own justice.
