Republican lawmakers are under increasing fire for racially insensitive comments after the fatal police shootings of black men sparked unrest in two states. Remarks by Reps. Robert Pittenger (N.C.), Tim Huelskamp (Kan.), Steve King (Iowa) and ex-Rep. Mike Pence (Ind.), the GOP’s vice-presidential nominee, underscored to some observers Republicans’ tone-deafness on issues of race in a year of unprecedented attention to police bias against African-Americans.
With the November elections barely six weeks away, the responses also seemed a sign of Republicans deepening alienation from black voters, who polls show are already repelled by the views and rhetoric of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump (he garnered 3 percent of the black vote in a new McClatchy-Marist poll). The GOP rhetoric could help mobilize African Americans to oppose Republicans in a year when Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is relying on heavy black turnout to win the White House.
“[Trump's] base is basically those individuals who stereotype African-Americans as not smart, not educated, don’t have jobs. He is reaching out to those individuals and now they feel free to say what they think,” Meeks said in an interview.
“If you’re a minority voter, you’ve seen eight years of this coming from the Republican Party, and now you see the presidential nominee doing it. So now the entire party gets portrayed this way.”
Trump’s campaign has become increasingly identified with racially divisive comments. Earlier in the week, a Ohio county-level Trump campaign chair resigned after she said there was no racism against blacks before Obama was elected. The woman, Kathy Miller, also called the Black Lives Matter movement a “stupid waste of time.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-insensitive-comments-after-charlotte-unrest/
With the November elections barely six weeks away, the responses also seemed a sign of Republicans deepening alienation from black voters, who polls show are already repelled by the views and rhetoric of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump (he garnered 3 percent of the black vote in a new McClatchy-Marist poll). The GOP rhetoric could help mobilize African Americans to oppose Republicans in a year when Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is relying on heavy black turnout to win the White House.
“[Trump's] base is basically those individuals who stereotype African-Americans as not smart, not educated, don’t have jobs. He is reaching out to those individuals and now they feel free to say what they think,” Meeks said in an interview.
“If you’re a minority voter, you’ve seen eight years of this coming from the Republican Party, and now you see the presidential nominee doing it. So now the entire party gets portrayed this way.”
Trump’s campaign has become increasingly identified with racially divisive comments. Earlier in the week, a Ohio county-level Trump campaign chair resigned after she said there was no racism against blacks before Obama was elected. The woman, Kathy Miller, also called the Black Lives Matter movement a “stupid waste of time.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-insensitive-comments-after-charlotte-unrest/
