Rare though they may be, there actually are a few Black people in the United States who support Donald Trump for president. Sean P. Jackson is the head of the Black Republican Caucus in Florida, and his support was recently put to the test at a rally in the Sunshine State.
Head Of Caucus Forcibly Removed From Rally
Jackson is fed up with the Trump campaign’s attempt at Black outreach. He states that he has repeatedly reached out to Trump’s campaign manager in Florida, Karen Giorno, to no avail.
That doesn’t stop him from fawning all over Trump on a regular basis, but it does mean that he at least recognizes the problem the Trump campaign, and Republicans in general, have with attempting to court the Black vote.
In a recent piece from the Miami New Times, Jackson was quoted as saying,
“Mr. Trump really does have a sincere, passionate interest in black outreach, but his campaign staff has dropped the ball … That all starts with Karen Giorno. She has repeatedly failed at embracing blacks across the state.”
And BuzzFeed reported that,
“Jackson, whose plan to reach black voters has reached the inboxes of select black conservatives in his state and nationally, recently told friends that the Trump campaign’s chief Florida strategist, Karen Giorno, told him during that primary that Trump didn’t need his ‘classification of people’ to get elected.”
Jackson’s outreach to Giorno goes back to January, and he is certainly a well-known figure within Republican circles. He was quite the fixture at the Cleveland convention.
That didn’t stop the Secret Service from forcibly removing him from a recent Trump event.
“At a recent event in Florida, two sources said Jackson was approached by Secret Service and escorted out of the event. But when he confronted Giorno to vouch for him, a source said she declined to acknowledge Jackson, the chairman of the Black Republican Caucus of Florida, a group that once hosted Dr. Ben Carson.”
As Jackson told the Miami New Times,
“The crazy part about it is that the Secret Service had already cleared me to be back there, and yet she made a scene and claimed that she didn’t know who I was.”
Is Jackson Ignoring Trump’s Racist History?
Jackson seems to put all the blame on the shoulders of the campaign staffers, rather than on the Orange Menace himself. He even tweeted the following on August 9:
Fact: @realDonaldTrump was NOT #Racist until he decided to run for #President. So now #BlackAmerica wants to make him 2b something he is NOT
— Chairman SP Jackson (@SeanPJackson1) August 9, 2016
Interesting, considering Trump’s history of discriminating against Black people who wanted to rent from him, then doing it again three years later.
Or how he once told a former president of Trump Hotel & Casino,
“Black guys counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day. . . . I think the guy is lazy. And it’s probably not his fault because laziness is a trait in blacks. It really is, I believe that. It’s not anything they can control.”
Or that time his casino was fined $200,000 for removing Black dealers from the casino floor at the request of a high-roller.
Or the former employee of Trump Castle, Kip Brown, who told The New Yorker in a September, 2015 story,
“‘When Donald and Ivana came to the casino, the bosses would order all the black people off the floor,’ he said. ‘It was the eighties, I was a teen-ager, but I remember it: they put us all in the back.'”
And those examples aren’t even a full list of Trump’s racist remarks against Black people, let alone his remarks about other races. Or his history of birtherism. Or how he won’t condemn the white supremacist groups that endorse him. You can read more examples here.
Jackson Still Stumps For Trump
For whatever reason, Sean Jackson is not giving up on his candidate.
“Jackson says he’s still a true believer and will continue working to get Trump elected in November. He says he believes Trump will rebuild the military and change the economy for the better, even if Jackson is frustrated with Trump’s campaign operation in his home state.”
I honestly don’t get it.
If that’s not enough, check out this footage of his racist rally from last year:
Featured Image Via Facebook.
