The recent appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists by Donald Trump should serve as a reminder about the present day Republican Party. Nonetheless, it was not a surprise to anyone who has been on the planet earth to see a race based performance by the former president. While there has always been members of the black community who support the Republican Party the reality is that the GOP tends to be anathema to communities of color. 

It would be easy to simply lay the atrocious and racist behavior of the GOP solely at the feet of the GOP presidential nominee. It’s been a problem that republicans have struggled with for decades.

One of the problems that republicans face is their inability or unwillingness to speak to black audiences in a manner that would create interest. It seems more likely that the strategy in speaking with black audiences is to show their conservative constituency that they can handle black people. 

I am reminded of the speech given by the 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney to the NAACP. It would be fair to say most of the speech was respectful in tone. Nonetheless when he said ‘If you want a president who will make things better in the African American community, you are looking at him” it sounded condescending. When he added that he was going to end Obamacare which is very popular throughout the nation and specifically in the black community you got the idea that he wasn’t speaking to the black community but rather the conservative segment of the white community whose votes he needed. 

It should be clear by now that the GOP has no desire to appeal to communities of color and black voters in particular.  Even the late African American entrepreneur and former GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain disparaged the black community when he said blacks were “brainwashed.” Some black republicans have been honest about the GOP. In 2010 then RNC Chairman Michael Steele in response to why African Americans should vote for republicans said “You really don’t have a reason to, to be honest — we haven’t done a very good job of really giving you one. True? True.”

As the present GOP presidential nominee has made an intentional decision to engage in racial attacks against Vice President Kamala Harris, GOP Tennessee Congressman Tim Burchett , who adheres to a faux sense of Christianity, has joined in when he referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as a DEI hire. This appeal to the worst of white America is not new but represents a core element of the GOP.

While Burchett is not a figure that most would take seriously the beloved Ronald Regan said the following to Richard Nixon about African delegates to the United Nations “To watch that thing on television, as I did, to see those, those monkeys from those African countries – damn them, they’re still uncomfortable wearing shoes!”

The role of racism within the GOP is not a new phenomenon. Even if we go back to the 19th century when Republican senator Lyman Trumbull said “We, the Republican Party, are the white man’s party. We are for free white men and for making white labor respectable and honorable, which it can never be when negro slave labor is brought into competition with it” 

Yes the antics by Trump is an old show. The problem is that it works. It will appeal to a large if not majority segment of uneducated white Americans who have been taught that at their worst they are better than people of color at their best.  It is not to suggest the Democratic Party is utopia. It’s just that the Republican Party doesn’t bother to hide its animosity towards communities of color. 

No doubt the GOP will roll out black members of its party, including the buffoonery of Republican activist Michaela  Montgomery, that will attempt to rationalize its racist tendencies.Unfortunately they will not be rolled out to appeal to black voters but rather to assuage the tendencies of the so-called MAGA community. 

Even some who have appeared on networks such as CNN seem to be living in a world of delusion when they suggest the GOP nominee should be talking about issues when they know full well this is what their party believes when it comes to communities of color. 

Maya Angelou said “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” 

The GOP has shown itself over and over again. Believe them.