Another “Black Americans for Trump” Event Is Major Bust

Trump literally phoned it in for a roundtable event with Black business leaders in Atlanta on Wednesday. The Trump campaign held a “roundtable” of six barber chairs lined up next to each other as part of a “Black Americans for Trump” event. Trump skipped the event, instead calling in to ramble about the tax cuts he’s looking to give the ultrarich and their billion-dollar corporations.

The roundtable setup featured Representative (and Trump V.P. wannabe) Byron Donalds, former Trump Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, and Representative Wesley Hunt in attendance. The seats were positioned in a semi-arc facing a gaggle of cameras and sea of white people, and everyone looks abundantly unenthused to be there.

The event highlights Trump’s lackluster attempts to bolster support among Black voters, a voting bloc that played a pivotal role in Biden’s victory in 2020 and still favors Biden over Trump. In May, Trump hosted a small rally in the Bronx to gin up the Black vote after an even smaller appearance at a Harlem bodega in April. And in June, Trump appeared at a Black church in Detroit before skipping off to a white nationalist convention. The church stunt was a flop: At least half the audience was white, none of the attendees reporters spoke with were actual congregants, and the megachurch’s pastor said people laughed in his face when he scrambled to find people to fill the pews for the event.