Two prominent Congressional allies of Donald Trump will be making a bold foray into “area no conservative or Republican has gone in the last 30 years” — the black community, after a new poll showed the former president’s support among African-American voters tripled.
The sports anchor turned political commentator will join the pair next week, The Washington Post reported exclusively, as black lawmakers take to events in battleground states to rally support for Trump, a Democratic incumbent who they say is elderly, racist and totally unfit for the presidency.
Events encouraging people to vote take many forms, but one with the alliterative title “Cigars, Cognac and Congress,” taking place at an Atlanta market on the eve of the first debate between President Trump and President Biden, is aimed at spotlighting the differences between the former and current presidents and ultimately motivating Black voters in battleground states who have been Republican challengers in recent election cycles.
“I’m honored to join Reps. Wesley Hunt and Byron Donald in prioritizing open and honest dialogue during this tumultuous time in our country,” said Sage Steele, a former ESPN “SportsCenter” anchor who left that position to express himself politically.
“With the 2024 election fast approaching, the three of us came together to discuss issues that matter to all Americans, especially the Black community,” Steele added. “We can’t wait to hear your ideas on June 26th and welcome all input!”
Studio Cigar Lounge will host the second party of the series in the Atlanta suburb of Fairburn at 6 p.m.
Rep. Hunt, R-Texas, who is leading the Trump campaign’s black voter outreach efforts, outlines the strategy.
“We were in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Now we’re in Atlanta. Next we’re going to Milwaukee. [Republican convention]”So what we’re going to do is focus on areas where we know we can take 25 to 30 percent of the Black vote and where the mathematics is that Democrats can’t win. My team and I are spearheading this effort to actually go into the belly of the beast, to bravely go where no conservative or Republican has gone in the last 30 years,” Hunt said.
“That means going to the Black communities that have been hurt by the Biden Administration’s poor policies and explaining why a vote for President Trump in November will be a vote for prosperity and will be good not just for Black Americans but for all Americans.”
Donald, who is rumored to be on the shortlist to be Trump’s running mate, further explained: “It’s really important to have these meetings where you can hear from black Americans first-hand, find out what’s going on in their world and in their lives. I think President Trump wants to have the ability to listen to them and tell them what he thinks and why his policies are really going to help black people succeed at the next level.”
“We’re going to be speaking to a lot of black men, but we’re not going to exclude black women,” the Florida congressman added. “That’s what this event is about.”
While Cigar Night’s primary target audience is black men, Hunt sees women as mobile voters, too, though to a lesser extent.
“We’re going to get more black women,” he declared. “I talked to some black women in Philadelphia, and they said to me, ‘Wesley, it seems like you’re really big on black men. I get why because you’re good at math, but don’t forget about us,’ and that made me really happy. But if we can get some black women in there too, that’s only going to grow.”
Winning black voters away from Democrats has been a recurring challenge for the Republican Party, but Hunt believes recent trends mean it’s achievable.
“This is about math,” Hunt explained. “We’ve looked at the polls and the trends over the last two years. President Trump in 2020 got 18.7% of the black male vote. If you raise that number to 25% to 30%, mathematically the Democrats can’t win.”
The Texas congressman’s comments echoed optimism from the Trump press corps. CNN also reportedThe former president has a 21% approval rating among black voters, while Biden is down nine points among black voters over 50 and down 43 points among black voters under 50 since this point in 2020, according to an analysis of the polls.
In battleground states, Biden is winning a meager 63% of black voters in his head-to-head race against Trump, and when third-party candidates like Robert Kennedy Jr., Jill Stein and Cornel West are included, Biden’s approval rating drops to below 50%.
These are awful numbers for Democrats, the worst since Republicans adopted the Southern Strategy in 1968, and they are fueling a political repolarization that is fading based on this data.
Hunt believes Biden has a “history and record of being a racist,” as evidenced by the 1994 crime bill he helped write and his eulogy for former Klan member West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd. Hunt points out that Biden’s 2020 assertion that “if you’re not sure whether to support me or Trump, you’re not black” offers insight into this deeply flawed president.
“This man has a history of being a racist and his own vice president, Kamala Harris, called him a racist during a debate, but then changed his tune and accepted the vice presidency,” Hunt said, before noting that concerns about his “age” and “mental state” were real.
“This man is 81 years old and I think you’ve all been paying attention to his behavior lately. It’s depressing. This is elder abuse. It’s sad. People need to understand that he’s not going to live past 85,” Hunt said. “If he’s re-elected, a vote for Joe Biden is a vote for Kamala Harris.”
While Donald believes Biden is highly unlikely to be replaced as the nominee despite his documented ill health, he argues that the president’s record should be a deciding factor for black voters, and says the contrast between the 45th and 46th presidents is instructive.
“In this election, you’re making a decision between two men, two presidents, both with records, and I think it’s going to be important for black people to be able to look objectively and determine whose decisions and policies have actually been good for their lives,” he said, per The Floridian.
Donald believes the administration’s worst policies are “massive overspending,” “masses of illegal immigration” that are “overwhelming our cities,” and the special interest-driven “politicization” of federal agencies, including the Justice Department, which have been used as a “weapon” against the former president.
The conversation turned to cognac and cigars, but both senators have classic tastes.
Hunt rates Hennessy and Remy Martin above other cigars, and in terms of smoke, he prefers Cuban-style Diploma cigars made in the Dominican Republic.
Donald is also a Hennessy lover, particularly White Hennessy, a limited edition product known for its floral bouquet scent, which Donald describes as “very beautiful.”
He has an extensive taste for cigars.
“I really like a lot of different kinds,” he says, but two in particular stand out.
“I love the Rocky Patel White Label series. They’re great cigars. I also have the Drew Estate Riga Privada No. 9, which is a great cigar.”
