Interview Gone Wrong: Black Dem Who Voted for Trump Schools CNN Anchor
So this is not a good look for CNN: An anchor implicitly attacking a black Democratic voter for not agreeing that America has become more racist during the Trump years.
And here’s an even worse look: The voter managed to school her.
The incident happened on Thursday, when Alisyn Camerota of “New Day” talked with Democratic voters from the Rust Belt, as the Media Research Center noted. We all know that Rust Belt voters have suddenly become Very Important in the eyes of the media because these individuals could hold the key to the 2020 election.
Four of the Democrats had voted for Trump in 2016 and two of them, an African-American woman and a white man, said they regretted the decision.
“I have a child. He’s 14. He’s a young, African-American male,” the woman said. “And just, you know, the injustices that have been happening around the country, we’re extremely fearful in the African-American community. And, you know, since he’s become president, it’s become more fearful for us as a people.”
As she said that, another African-American Trump voter — identified as Darrell Wimbley, who didn’t regret his vote — shook his head.
“Darrell, why are you shaking your head no?” Camerota asked.
“It just amazes me. This is 2019,” Wimbley said. “And the race relations and the way we perceive and the way we say things are happening in this country, I don’t see it happening.”
“In terms of statistics, there has been an uptick in hate crimes,” Camerota said.
“You can say that, but I truly don’t believe it because I don’t see it,” Wimbley said. “I can statistically say anything, but I don’t see it.”
“Well, I mean, the people who chart it,” Camerota said. “For instance, the Anti-Defamation League –“
“I don’t really — think you could call that, the Anti-Defamation League, the Southern Poverty Law Center, to me those are Democratic institutions that will say and manipulate anything,” Wimbley said.
Those are exactly the kinds of truths liberal media figures like Camerota will do anything to avoid.
“Racism is not a microaggression,” Wimbley continued. “Racism is something painful and hurtful and when we take microaggressions and turn it into ‘the country is against black people,’ we’re literally slapping people in the face that went through real racism.”
“And did you see Charlottesville as a microaggression?” Camerota said.
“I saw Charlottesville as two groups of people that came to fight and do something bad,” Wimbley said.
“Good people on both sides you saw?” Camerota said.
“I saw two groups of people that came together and fought and both of them, were equally wrong,” he said.
The white man who regretted voting for Trump then seized upon the “good people on both sides” remark — something that Wimbley never said, mind you — and we were off to the races.
Now, it’s worth noting that while he may not have had the information at hand, Wimbley wasn’t necessarily wrong about that supposed “uptick” in hate crimes.
Yes, it’s worth noting that hate crimes did increase by 17 percent in 2017 — although almost all of it can likely be traced to the fact that there were 1,000 more law enforcement agencies reporting hate crimes to the FBI.
Even then, the raw number of hate crimes was higher during the Clinton administration — a time when there were far fewer agencies reporting hate crimes to the federal government.
As for Charlottesville, one incident and a few poorly chosen words in its aftermath does neither causation nor causality make.
Charlottesville was a disgrace and the bigots responsible received the very harsh, very public censure they deserved. That doesn’t mean Donald Trump caused or exacerbated any of it, as Wimbley reminded us.
What’s truly astounding, however, is when a CNN host who isn’t black tries to lecture a Trump voter who is on the subject of racism in America. It would be absolutely unbelievable if CNN hadn’t trained us to expect this sort of thing from them.
It is, yet again, not a good look for the network.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
