Patricia Murphy: Meet the Black men in Georgia voting for Trump

U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds had a message for the Black men at former President Donald Trump’s rally in Cobb County on Tuesday night during the first day of early voting.

“I was on CNN this morning and they’re a little concerned. If I saw Kamala’s polling I would be concerned, too,” the Florida GOP congressman said. “You have Black men who are now looking at Trump and saying, ‘You know what? I’m with Trump.’”

Then, one by one, Donalds pointed to Black men in the audience and called them out as the raucous, predominantly white audience roared with approval. “I see you, brother!” Donalds yelled and pointed. “I see you, too, brother!”

Each one of those men who Donalds pointed to represents one of the most worrisome trends for the Harris campaign in Georgia just three weeks from Election Day, namely that the once reliable bloc of Black voters they counted on to win elections may not be so reliable anymore.

In The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s latest poll, 77% of Black voters said they’re backing Vice President Kamala Harris, with 9% for Trump and 12% undecided. That’s still a large majority for Harris, but about 10% below the number Democrats usually need to win statewide. Drilling down further, internal polling among Democrats shows Black men in particular are a weak spot for Harris.

Looking to shore up support, former President Barack Obama spoke last week and scolded Black men for “not feeling the idea of having a woman as president.” On Monday, Harris came out with a new set of policy proposals pitched to Black men.

It’s all a little late and tone deaf for Ken Wainwright, a Georgia labor organizer and former Atlanta City Council candidate. Wainwright went into Trump’s event Tuesday undecided about how he’ll vote. After seeing Trump’s speech, he said he’s leaning toward supporting the former president and he predicted he won’t be alone.

“These are people who should have been easy for Harris,” he said of Black men. “And now Obama is mad. Where you been, homie?”

Wainwright especially took issue with the details and timing of Harris’ new proposals for Black men, released just a day before voting began in Georgia. Included were a forgivable loan program for Black entrepreneurs and a plan to legalize marijuana.

“Marijuana? That’s just disrespectful,” Wainwright said. “We’re fathers. We live in these communities. We want to get kids off that stuff.”

On a deeper level, he said he sees many Black men who feel disconnected from the Democratic Party, which he said messages heavily to Black women and other minority groups and less often to Black men directly.

“It’s really showing in the voting that Black men have had an issue with Black women,” he said. “This is bigger than just a voting booth situation. This is an honor and respect situation.”

Although Wainwright may have been undecided Tuesday night, other Black men at the Trump rally had not only made up their minds to support him, they voted for him on Tuesday before they went.

One was Arjenis Aten, 37, who is originally from New York and now lives in Gray, Georgia. He did not vote for Trump four years ago, but cast his vote for the former president early Tuesday.

“I honestly thought that Trump would win in 2020. But this year, there’s no more playing around,” he said.

Aten said Trump has been consistent on issues since the 1990s, including on immigration and the economy.

As for Harris, “I think she is a puppet and a liar,” he said. “She has no backbone. She’ll do whatever it takes to win.”

Olaolu Monet from Buckhead did not vote for Trump in 2020 either, but did on Tuesday. “I was just on the bandwagon (in 2020). And then I started to think on my own and see my own things,” he said. “I’m supporting Trump because he’s a great individual. He’s straight to the point. I see the compassion and the love.”

Monet did not have anything negative to say about Harris, just that she does not connect with him at all. “She’s doing her thing,” he said. “I don’t know too much about her.”

Of course Harris and her supporters see things very differently. U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, Georgia’s first Black senator and the senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church, has campaigned for Harris repeatedly and may be her most important surrogate in Georgia. On Tuesday he spoke to reporters in a call organized by the Harris campaign. The topic was women’s health and abortion.

In a direct appeal to Black men, Harris appeared on Charlamagne Tha God’s hourlong radio show Tuesday. During the interview, she was asked why white voters would be scolded for not supporting her in the same way that Obama had admonished Black men.

Harris responded that Obama was only emphasizing the high stakes for Black voters in the contest against Trump. And she said she knows she needs to “earn every vote.”

For the Black men at Trump’s rally, the time to earn their votes has already come and gone.