I know it’s only Sunday, but I’m pretty sure this masterpiece from CNN is going to end up being the best thing you see all week. It’s also a flashing red light for Democrats hoping their traditional coalition is going to save them in November.
The setup happened when Donald Trump questioned Kamala Harris’ ethnic authenticity while speaking at the National Association of Black Journalists. When asked whether she was a “DEI hire,” the former president went in a different direction, noting that she shifts between her Indian and African heritage depending on what audience she’s pandering to. She also changes her accent at times.
SEE: Black Journalists at the NABJ Try to Hold Trump Accountable; It Goes As Well As Expected
Naturally, that sent the press into apoplectic shock. As of this writing, we are now on day five of Trump’s statement leading the news, and CBS News decided to press the issue by visiting a black barbershop. The intention was clear. The liberal network expected to show up and film a bunch of praise for Harris while getting denunciations of Trump as a racist.
Instead, they got something far more incredible. Here’s part of that report as shown by CNN, which handled the situation exactly as you’d expect.
Black guys at Harrisburg barbershop tell local CBS reporter that @KamalaHarris isn’t really black: “To me, no.” pic.twitter.com/cdZUX5UwEF
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) August 3, 2024
REPORTER: Is Kamala going to make you a little more likely or less likely to vote Democrat?
BLACK MAN ONE: Well, hold on, Greg, hold on, Greg, is Kamala black? Yes or no.
BLACK MAN TWO: I’m gonna allow her to speak on that, but to me, no.
BLACK MAN ONE: Oh…(turns to man sitting next to him), is Kamala black, yes or no?
BLACK MAN THREE: I share that same view.
BLACK MAN ONE: Wow…(turns to other man sitting next to him) is Kamala black? Yes or no.
BLACK MAN FOUR: I heard she wasn’t. I heard she’s half-black and half-Asian.
Well, that’s certainly interesting. Polls have continually shown that black men are trending toward Donald Trump, and the fact that CBS News walked into a black barber shop and got those answers provides more evidence for that.
A shift is happening. How large or impactful it is won’t be revealed until November, but Harris is not the slam dunk for the black community that the mainstream press has been claiming. There are also at least some black people who didn’t find Trump’s comments offensive but instead agree with the sentiment. CBS News’ latest poll shows Trump garnering 18 percent of the black vote. That compares to just 8 percent in 2020.
What was so great about CNN’s coverage of the above report, though, is that when it ended, Michael Smerconish immediately dismissed the black men as “low information voters” by citing people who called into his radio show.
SMERCONISH: When I played that audio on my Sirus XM radio program, many callers who self-identified as African-American were the exception, not the rule. Some described them as low-inflation voters, no different than you’d find among whites.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that people who call into the radio show of a far-left Democrat are not neutral arbiters regarding the black community. I’m also going to suggest that calling black people who disagree with you “low-information” (i.e. dumb) is probably not the best way to solidify support for Harris. CNN just can’t help itself, though.
Whether Democrats like it or not, questions about Harris’ inauthenticity are going to continue, even among black Americans. Trump planted the seed, and it’s in the public consciousness now. No, he’s not going to win 30 percent of the black vote, but minds are being changed at a level that could change the outcome of the election.
