Donald Trump's regular reiteration of "his" low rates of African-American unemployment prove why he is still so unpopular among that demographic.
The Washington Post's Eugene Scott wrote that Trump's "approval ratings among black voters have remained the lowest of any racial group" — and are unlikely to improve with his Sunday tweet about African-American unemployment.
"So if African-American unemployment is now at the lowest number in history, median income the highest, and you then add all of the other things I have done, how do Democrats, who have done NOTHING for African-Americans but TALK, win the Black Vote?" the president tweeted Sunday afternoon. "And it will only get better!"
Answering Trump's rhetorical question, Scott pointed out that "black voters care about more than unemployment."
His regular mention of black unemployment rates appears to overshadow "all the other things" Trump claims to have done — without evidence.
"Black voices have repeatedly expressed what they dislike about Trumpism in op-eds, on cable news and at rallies," the columnist noted. "Yet Trump’s response is pretty much what it has been for the past several months: Unemployment is down."
Rather than listen to those voices, the president and his GOP allies "are backing candidates and picking fights that exemplify some of the concerns black voters have long had about him."
Those candidates, Scott wrote, include Florida gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis, who warned voters not to vote for his black Democrat opponent Andrew Gillum for fear of "monkeying up" the state.
"For many black voters, to support the GOP in 2018 is to continue to back an administration that many Americans have called the most divisive in recent history," the columnist concluded.
"To them," he added, "the black unemployment rate is not the sole consideration; the way they see it, if Trumpism remains the GOP’s primary approach to governing, especially the idea that America’s greatest days were in the past, the president should expect his party to keep losing the black vote."