From the August 24 edition of CNN's New Day:
NY Times' Charles Blow: Trump's Alleged Outreach To Black Voters “Is The Most Insidious Kind Of Bigotry”
Blow: “He's Not Talking To Us. He's Pretending To Talk To Us As He Talks To You.”
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published
ALISYN CAMEROTA (CO-HOST): All right, let's bring back our panel. We have Philip Rucker, Rebecca Berg, and Charles Blow. Charles, has he won you over with that speech?
CHARLES BLOW: First, we have to stop calling this outreach to black people because it's not.
CAMEROTA: What is it?
BLOW: It's an outreach to white people. Right? That's all it is, and every time for the last 10 days people have been on television saying this is an outreach to black people, and that is a lie, and we all know that it's just a lie.
CAMEROTA: But just clarify that.
CHRIS CUOMO (CO-HOST): Why is it --
BLOW: It is a lie because it is the most insidious kind of bigotry. It is the kind of bigotry that says I will knock you down while I pretend to pick you up. It says that I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to the guy behind you or over your shoulder. It's the kind of bigotry that says I'm urinating on you and telling you to dance in the rain. This is the most horrible kind of bigotry. And the fact that people keep asking the same question, particularly to black commentators like me, is he reaching out to black people -- he is not reaching out to black people. There's nothing about this appeal that has any resonance with anyone black that I can even find. I even looked at other, the largest black websites I that could find just to see if anybody was taking this seriously. Not a single person that I could find was taking it – only people taking it seriously is white people.
CAMEROTA: But the white voters that you say he's reaching out to, doesn't he already have them?
BLOW: No.
CAMEROTA: Why is he reaching out to those voters?
BLOW: No, he does not have the ones you were just talking about in your last segment. It is the moderate ones who say, I don't want to be the woman, man who votes for the racist guy. And if this guy can now change his opinion, I do want to be a conservative, but I don't want to be a conservative who votes for the racist guy. And now he's different. Well, actually, he's not different. He's not talking to us. He's pretending to talk to us as he talks to you. And this is an insult to all people of color, both black, Hispanic, and otherwise, because he is using us as pawns to get to you. You do not get an out. Know the guy was a bigot yesterday. He's a bigot today. He will be a bigot tomorrow, and if you vote for him, you're voting for a bigot. That's it.
Previously:
Black CNN Panelists Walk Trump Supporter Through His Long History Of Racism And Discrimination
Watch Black Voters Explain To CNN How Trump's Rhetoric Hurts Black People
The Complete History Of Donald Trump's Relationship With The White Nationalist Movement