Trump-Omarosa quarrel only deepens racial divisions

President’s rhetoric may bolster Democrats

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s attacks on prominent African-Americans have alarmed civil rights advocates and rattled some Republicans who fear his rhetoric could add to Democratic chances of capturing the House of Representatives in this year’s midterm elections.

Trump drew a barrage of criticism Tuesday for describing former aide Omarosa Manigault Newman – one of the only African-Americans who worked in his West Wing – as a “dog,” the latest flare-up in a pattern of heated tweets directed at people of color.

While Trump has long been unpopular with black voters, political operatives in both parties say the high-profile battles with Manigault Newman, Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James and Rep. Maxine Waters of California risk souring suburban voters and boosting African-American turnout in November.

“For a lot of those suburban voters, this is upsetting to them,” said Telly Lovelace, a former Republican National Committee aide in charge of black outreach.

“The No. 1 emotion that Trump inspires for African Americans is disrespect.”

Henry Fernandez co-founder of the African American Research Collaborative

“This is not what he needs to be doing.”

In 2016, Trump captured 8 percent of the African-American vote, according to exit polls, compared with Democrat Hillary Clinton’s 89 percent. Trump’s share of the black vote was slightly higher than the 7 percent that Republican Mitt Romney received in his 2012 effort to unseat President Barack Obama, the first African-American U.S. president.

But Trump’s approval rating among black voters has remained in the single digits for most of his presidency.

His remarks are likely to reinforce antipathy toward Trump among black voters, said Henry Fernandez, cofounder of the African American Research Collaborative, who surveyed minorities on their political views in July.

“The No. 1 emotion that Trump inspires for African-Americans is disrespect,” Fernandez said.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Trump’s attacks on Manigault Newman, who is promoting a tell-all book critical of the president, have “absolutely nothing to do with race and everything to do with the president calling out someone’s lack of integrity.”

“The fact is the president is an equal-opportunity person who calls things as he sees it, and he always fights fire with fire,” she said.

White House aides noted Trump uses similar language to describe white people – he once described his former political strategist, Steve Bannon, as a “dog.”

In response to allegations by Manigault Newman that Trump was on tape using the n-word, Sanders said that the president has denied ever using the word and that she had never heard him say it. But Sanders stopped short of guaranteeing there’s not a tape of him saying it.

Republican lawmakers remained mostly silent Tuesday. Sen. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican and frequent Trump critic, was one of the few to weigh in directly, describing the president’s remarks as “unbecoming.”

Critics point to other concerns with the president’s rhetoric.

Trump often attacks African-Americans he disagrees with by questioning their intelligence, a denigration with a particularly ugly history in the United States. At rallies across the country, he regularly describes Waters as having a “low IQ,” and earlier this month he described CNN host Don Lemon as “the dumbest man on television.”

“The level of racism and racial comments coming from this administration has paralyzed the nation’s ability to truly respond,” said Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP. “He has created one of the highest levels of intolerance that I have seen in my lifetime.”

Political analysts say Trump’s influence already has been felt this election cycle. The special election for Alabama’s open Senate race last year between Republican Roy Moore and Democrat Doug Jones drew a surge of African-American voters to the polls.

Exit polling indicates African American voters, who tend to cast ballots for Democrats, made up about 29 percent of the tally in that race – roughly the same share as in the much higher-profile 2012 presidential election.

African-American turnout in Virginia also helped Democrat Ralph Northam beat Republican Ed Gillespie in that state’s gubernatorial election last year.

“You have a dynamic where communities of color think they’re are under attack,” said Cornell Belcher, a Democratic pollster. “You’ve got African-Americans in these battleground states who think that racism is increasing, and they point to Trump as the reason for that.”