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The post RNC activists say Trump rule breaking, winning record will rebut Democrats appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The battle cry from Republican Party delegates gathered at the national convention sounds a lot like “damn the torpedoes.”
Party activists at the Republican National Convention, which is locked down because of the COVID-19 pandemic, do not want President Trump to dial back the high-energy — some say hyperactive — campaign style that won him the White House in 2016 as an establishment-bashing outsider.
They say Mr. Trump’s manic presence on the stump is more of an asset than a liability and his record of accomplishment disproves Democrats’ charges that he doesn’t take the job seriously.
“Mr. Trump has successfully rewritten the rules of conventional politics for the last five years, and I have no reason to believe he will not continue to successfully rewrite the rules,” said Peter Feaman, a convention delegate and national committeeman at the Republican Party of Florida.
In other words, “Let Trump be Trump,” as was the motto for Mr. Trump’s campaign team in 2016.
Democrats have made Mr. Trump’s style and accusations that he is a chaotic and unreliable leader the centerpiece of the argument to replace him with their nominee, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden.
Former President Barack Obama hammered home that message last week at the livestreamed Democratic National Convention. He said Mr. Trump had “no interest in treating the presidency as anything but one more reality show that he can use to get the attention he craves.”
Mr. Feaman said the insult rings hollow when stacked up against Mr. Trump’s record of wins, including brokering a peace deal this month between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, which is only the third Arab country to normalize relations with the Jewish state, after Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994.
“You know his administration takes things seriously when you get a treaty like that,” he said.
Mr. Trump so far isn’t letting down the party faithful.
Breaking the norms of presidential campaign politics, Mr. Trump last week delivered his hard-charging message outside Mr. Biden’s boyhood home in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on the same day Mr. Biden accepted the nomination.
He warned that Mr. Biden was beholden to the “crazy people” on the far left and would trash gun rights, energy independence, and law and order in America.
Not long ago, it would have been unseemly for a president to step on his challenger’s acceptance speech.
Jeff Schuette, a delegate to the RNC in Charlotte, called it “innovative” for the president to muscle in on his rival’s big moment.
“We are definitely in a new Trump era,” said Mr. Schuette, chairman of the Minnesota Republican Party for the 2nd Congressional District, which includes the suburbs and exurbs south of the Twin Cities.
Mr. Trump usually rises to the occasion for big moments, delivering sharply focused presidential-style addresses such as his 2016 speech accepting the Republican Party nomination and his State of the Union speeches. He usually saves the exuberant and freewheeling riffs, which his base adores, for rallies and impromptu exchanges with the press.
Precautions against the novel coronavirus have mostly halted rallies, and Mr. Trump’s use of White House events to deliver his message has blurred the lines between presidential and campaign events.
He runs the risk of walking into Mr. Biden’s character trap, said Carter Wrenn, a Republican Party strategist in North Carolina who isn’t involved in the convention.
“Biden wants to make Trump, personally, the focus of his campaign — which may mean boasts, name-calling, lies offer Biden ways to do that,” he said. “That doesn’t pre-empt rallies or ‘hyper-energy’ or ‘firing up the base,’ but it may make the way Trump is attacking Biden a liability with swing voters.”
The delegates have been conducting convention business under a strict lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19. With the public and the news media locked out, the delegates conducted meetings, set the platform and prepared for Monday’s roll call vote to nominate Mr. Trump for a second term.
Inside the Charlotte Convention Center and a nearby hotel where the delegates are holed up, they say the mood is upbeat and “energized,” despite the coronavirus and the economic downturn inflicted by state governments to fight COVID-19.
Delegates are convinced that Mr. Trump’s support is stronger than what is reflected in polls, which show Mr. Biden in the lead.
Mr. Biden had a 10-point lead, 52% to 42%, but Mr. Trump had strong support from Republican voters on key issues, according to a CBS/YouGov battleground tracking poll released Sunday.
Despite the downturn, 75% of registered Republican voters said America is better off than it was four years ago, compared with 25% who said it is not. Among all voters, 35% said America is better off and 65% said it is not, according to the survey.
The poll showed 82% of Republicans have confidence in Mr. Trump and 73% said the fight against COVID-19 is going well.
About 27% of Republicans said the fight against the pandemic is going badly. Among all voters, 38% said it is going well and 62% said it is not.
The way the Republican Party insiders at the convention see it, voters have a stark choice between Mr. Trump’s promise of law and order, his tough stance toward China and economic freedom versus Mr. Biden’s urban riots and socialism.
“American people are watching in horror what is going on with the violence in the streets,” Mr. Feaman said. “They know the only chance they have for law and order is to go with President Trump.”
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]]>The post Chicago activists worried as federal officers head their way appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>CHICAGO — The latest gun violence to pierce the South Side, including a shootout this week outside a funeral home that left 15 people wounded, has unnerved city leaders and community members who are begging for an end to the bloodshed.
“Put your guns down,” Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown said at a news conference after a 3-year-old girl was shot in the head early Wednesday.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot said: “We all had restless nights last night, me included. But I woke up this morning with even more resolve to do all we can to stop this violence.”
The effort to stem the surge in shootings will now include support from the federal government, the Justice Department announced Wednesday afternoon. “Anti-violent crime task forces” will be deployed in Chicago; Kansas City, Missouri; and Albuquerque, New Mexico, cities where the Trump administration believes its federal agents can help with unsolved murders and gang violence.
The task forces are being rolled out under Operation Legend, named after a 4-year-old boy who was killed in a shooting last month in Kansas City.
But community activists and criminologists in Chicago say they are concerned that the tensions, reinvigorated protests and questionable arrests involving federal agents in Portland, Oregon, in recent days could flare in Chicago, America’s third-largest city.
“Sending in federal agents without any real specificity and clarity for their presence is a very slippery slope,” said David Stovall, a professor of African American studies and criminology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. “If they are just going to ramp up what is existing, then that could mean more arrests and, in the worst case, more fatalities.”
Stovall added that “a crackdown on crime and guns only gets more people arrested and doesn’t actually address the core issue behind violence.”
The task forces will comprise agents from the FBI; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the U.S. Marshals Service; and the Department of Homeland Security. More than 200 federal agents have already been sent to Kansas City, with a similar force expected in Chicago and more than 35 officers in Albuquerque.
About $3.5 million in federal funding would also be directed to Chicago to compensate local authorities for overtime, equipment and other expenses that support the federal agents, Attorney General William Barr said.
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A Chicago police spokesperson said Wednesday that if federal agents are deployed, “it is critical that they coordinate with the Chicago Police Department and work alongside us to fight violent crime in Chicago.”
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Lightfoot suggested Tuesday that she would support the possibility of an “actual partnership” with federal agencies that could provide more resources to “help manage and suppress violent crime in our city.” She said there are “some things the feds are uniquely qualified to do, and we would welcome that.”
But she warned that the “Trump administration is not going to foolishly deploy unnamed agents to the streets of Chicago.” She did not immediately comment Wednesday on Barr’s announcement.
It remained unclear late Wednesday what role the federal agents would play, making their arrival more unnerving for people in the communities they may interact with.
“I need to understand what their true purpose is and know how it’s different from what’s currently happening, because what’s currently happening isn’t working,” said Asiaha Butler, a South Side community activist who is executive director of the Resident Association of Greater Englewood. “I don’t know how you add more to what’s not working.”
The city is beset by high levels of gun violence and gang activity, and it has been reeling in recent weeks from a rise in crime.
There were 559 shootings over the 28 days before July 19, up from 137 over about the same period last year, according to crime statistics analyzed by Christopher Herrmann, a former crime analyst supervisor with the New York Police Department who is a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.
His analysis also found that murders in Chicago reached 116 over the 28 days, an increase of almost 200 percent from the previous year. So far this year, shootings are up by 47 percent and murders by 51 percent over the same period in 2019, Chicago crime data show. Sexual assault, robbery and theft reports, however, are down.
The rise in shootings and murders isn’t unique to Chicago. Other cities that Herrmann examined, including New York and Atlanta, also showed increases.
Herrmann told NBC News this month that the rise could be attributed to a combination of unique circumstances.
“Not only is it summertime violence, but there is COVID-19, police protests and job loss,” he said. “All of those factors are going to exacerbate violence, especially in communities that were already vulnerable.”
In more recent years, police have credited the addition of more than 1,000 officers to the streets, as well as gunshot-detection technology and predictive analytics, for helping to stave off shootings and homicides.
But Brown said Wednesday that conflicts among the more than 117,000 estimated gang members in Chicago and their warring factions are feeding the “cycle of violence.”
“Someone gets shot, which prompts someone else to pick up a gun,” Brown said. “This same cycle repeats itself, over and over and over again. This cycle is fueled by street gangs, guns and drugs.”
But criminal experts say the issue is much deeper.
“As tragic as the shooting is, we have to connect it to what it means to historically live under the conditions of not having quality education, quality health care, living-wage employment and access to nutrition,” Stovall said. “The best way to address violence is to be in a relationship with people before the event occurs.”
Arthur Lurigio, a professor of criminology and psychology at Loyola University Chicago, said that law enforcement should be involved but that it is never the main solution.
“There has to be a programmatic response that involves members of the community and, most importantly, an understanding of why these mostly young men are picking up guns and shooting one another,” he said.
Many community activists say beefing up law enforcement or adding more federal agents would be a short-term solution to a long-term problem.
“We’ve just been clipping at the weeds, but that doesn’t stop the weeds from coming up again,” said William Calloway, an anti-violence community activist.
Calloway said that he is open to help from different sources, including the federal government, but that he believes the larger issues of poverty and disenfranchisement are being overlooked.
Jahmal Cole, an activist who founded a community organization on the South Side called My Block, My Hood, My City, said violence is largely the result of disinvestment from the communities that are hardest hit by racial injustice, poverty, low-performing schools and high unemployment.
“I don’t think adding more officers is the solution,” he said. “It’s not about more police. It’s about more resources and investing, giving us the money we need so we can put it into our communities. If you’re not willing to do that, then you can’t change violence.”
Safia Samee Ali reported from Chicago and Erik Ortiz from New York.
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]]>The post Trump asks if activists want military bases named for Al Sharpton appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>- President Trump on Sunday in an interview on Fox News continued to pushback on efforts to rename military bases named for Confederate leaders, asking if those in favor of doing so wanted them to be named after civil rights leader and television personality, the Rev. Al Sharpton.
- Lawmakers in the House have proposed spending $1 million to rename US military bases as part of the proposed $695 billion defense spending bill.
- Trump previously said he would veto the bill if it contained the provision, though in the Sunday interview was unclear about whether he planned to sign the bill.
- Trump also again defended the Confederate Flag and downplayed its racist history.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
President Trump in a Fox News interview on Sunday continued to pushback against ongoing efforts to rename US military bases named for Confederate leaders, asking host Chris Wallace if those calling for the renaming of Fort Bragg in North Carolina would rather it be named for the Rev. Al Sharpton.
“I don’t care what the military says,” Trump said in a “Fox News Sunday” interview. “I’m supposed to make the decision.”
The president then suggested that the community in North Carolina would oppose such a change.
“Go to that community where Fort Bragg is, in a great state, I love that state, go to the community, say how do you like the idea of renaming Fort Bragg, and then what are we going to name it?” Trump asked.
“We’re going to name it after the Reverend Al Sharpton?” Trump continued, evoking the name of the civil rights activist, politician, MSNBC anchor, and Baptist minister. “What are you going to name it, Chris, tell me what you’re going to name it?”
As Business Insider’s David Choi previously reported, lawmakers are considering a plan to spend $1 million to rename US military bases named after Confederate generals as part of the proposed $695 billion defense authorization bill. There are 10 US Army bases across the US that bear the name of Confederate leaders, including Fort Bragg in North Carolina.
During the same interview, as Bloomberg noted, the president was unclear over whether he would veto the Defense Authorization Act should it contain the provision to rename confederate bases. At first, he said he would not veto the bill, though later in the Sunday interview he suggested he may veto it, echoing his comments from a tweet he sent on June 30.
“I will Veto the Defense Authorization Bill if the Elizabeth ‘Pocahontas’ Warren (of all people!) Amendment, which will lead to the renaming (plus other bad things!) of Fort Bragg, Fort Robert E. Lee, and many other Military Bases from which we won Two World Wars, is in the Bill!,” Trump tweeted last month.
—Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 1, 2020
Calls to remove confederate statues and monuments and rename military bases and other locations named after Confederate leaders have been amplified as part of protests against police brutality and racism that began in May following the police killing of 46-year-old George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The effort to rename Confederate bases has received rare bipartisan support, as Business Insider previously reported. Earlier this month, the US military effectively banned the Confederate Flag at military bases.
In response to these calls and protesters who have toppled Confederate statues on their own, Trump has threatened demonstrators with up to ten years in prison, citing a law meant to protect memorials for veterans. Trump also in the Sunday interview downplayed the Confederate Flag’s connections to racism, comments similar to those he made in an interview earlier in July.
“When people proudly have their Confederate flags, they’re not talking about racism,” the president told Wallace. “They love their flag, it represents the South, they like the South. People right now like the South. I’d say it’s freedom of, of, of many things, but it’s freedom of speech.”
Read more:
Trump says many of the US coronavirus cases are just people who ‘have the sniffles’
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]]>The post Hong Kong activists shut down protest groups after China passes security law appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>Hong Kong activists have deleted social media profiles and closed down campaign groups after Beijing passed a new security law for the territory that many fear could land them in jail.
The standing committee of the National People’s Congress approved the measure on Tuesday morning and it is expected to be enacted in Hong Kong late Tuesday, on the eve of the 23rd anniversary of its return to Chinese rule.
The legislation, aimed at stamping out the often violent anti-government protests that have engulfed Hong Kong over the past year, will criminalise secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.
The full text of the law has not yet been released, but the public broadcaster RTHK quoted sources as saying that under “special circumstances”, Hong Kong’s top leader and the Beijing-led national security agency in Hong Kong could send “serious” national security cases to mainland Chinese courts to be tried.
High-profile activists Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and Agnes Chow resigned from their political group, Demosisto, and the group itself announced its closure hours after news of the law’s passage. Hong Kong National Front, a pro-independence group, also announced its closure, but said its work would continue in Taiwan and the UK. Another pro-independence group, Studentlocalism, also said it would cease operating.
Local reports say the penalties for national security crimes will range from three to 10 years in prison, with life imprisonment for “serious cases”. The law is not supposed to be applied retroactively, although any actions that have “endangered the state” in the past two years could be used as evidence in courts, they say.
Although reports say China would exercise jurisdiction in only a minority of serious national security cases the Hong Kong government is unable to handle, many Hong Kongers were not reassured.
“It’s all so vague. Whatever they say about this targeting only a few people, I cannot trust them,” said Marie Tsang.
“I feel very uncomfortable because you don’t know where the red line is, you don’t know what they mean by national security crimes so you just second-guess,” said Tsang, a former accountant and full-time mother who said she has deleted many of her photos and posts online and is seeking to emigrate.
A student who identified himself as Kelvin, said he found the law “unnecessary” and “disturbing”.
“Many things in this law are open to interpretation. The authorities get to pick judges and how they interpret things will become precedents in courts,” said the 27-year-old, who said he was also deleting photos and posts online.
Some activists showed defiance by staging a lunchtime protest in a shopping centre in the prestigious Central business district. Several people sang songs and chanted slogans. Some displayed pro-independence flags and held up posters opposing the national security law, and urged people to take part in a protest on 1 July – the anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover to Beijing’s control. A large number of police officers conducted searches on some of them.
Police have banned the 1 July march, which has taken place every year since 1997, citing Covid concerns, but activists have said they would still demonstrate. On Lihkg.com, a site popular with protesters, users called for people to come out to “celebrate” the passage of the law.
In the decades since the handover, Hong Kong’s free press, independent courts and legislature, as well as its traditions of protests and marches have made the city a haven for the civil liberties not enjoyed across the border, especially as the government under Xi Jinping has further cracked down on civil society.
Those differences were thrown into sharp relief last year as protests – over another controversial bill that residents saw as further Chinese encroachment on their city – turned into a broader democracy movement. Police have in the past year arrested more than 9,000 protesters, including pro-democracy lawmakers and activists who have frequently lobbied to bring international attention to Hong Kong’s cause.
Some hope the security law will put an end to the protests. A 70-year-old market stall owner, who identified herself as Mrs Ha, said heavier punishment was needed to stop “the rioters from wrecking Hong Kong”.
“It will scare people and they won’t cause chaos any more,” she said.
Ip Kwok-him, a Hong Kong deputy to the Chinese parliament National People’s Congress, said the law was not “a toothless tiger” and would have a “deterrent effect”.
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]]>The post British activists behind NBC News report pushing Google to demonetize The Federalist appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>A viral firestorm was sparked by NBC News on Tuesday with its report that alleged Google was removing two conservative news sites from its ad platform.
NBC News reported that Google was taking action against both The Federalist and ZeroHedge for articles that apparently “pushed unsubstantiated claims” about the Black Lives Matter movement and violated the search engine’s policies that forbid the monetization of sites that provide “derogatory content.”
Google insisted however that The Federalist was “never demonetized” and that it was the site’s comments section that was in question, not any articles published by the site. ZeroHedge had already been demonetized.
NBC NEWS UNDER FIRE FOR APPARENTLY PUSHING GOOGLE TO REMOVE CONSERVATIVE SITES FROM AD PLATFORM
But the efforts to demonetize these conservative sites did not take place in the United States. They took place across the pond.
NBC News cited “research” from a British non-profit called the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH). According to its website, CCDH “seeks to disrupt the architecture of online hate and misinformation.”
The CCDH says they have “forced social media companies to establish precedent and remove hateful or dangerous speech by holding them directly accountable for their tolerance of hateful content.”
The organization was founded in December 2017 by Imran Ahmed, a self-described expert in “online malignant behavior” who previously served as a former adviser to Labour member of Parliament. He has long called for news organizations to shut down comments sections due to hateful content.
CCDH launched a campaign in 2019 called Stop Funding Fake News (SFFN), which claims its initiative is to demonetize and reduce “the reach of websites that masquerade as real news but in fact contain conspiracy theories, misinformation and propaganda, intermingled with shoddy journalism.”
The left-wing media watchdog has been quite active in recent months attacking mostly British websites they deem is pushing “fake news” about the coronavirus. However, since the death of George Floyd, SFFN began targeting American news sites they deemed “racist,” including The Federalist.
MSNBC REPORTER BLASTED ON-AIR FOR DESCRIBING CHOP AS ‘STREET FESTIVAL’
“Since we launched, we’ve seen one of our target fake news sites completely shut down, and the capacity of several others reduced significantly as a result of us damaging their ability to raise revenue,” SFFN boasted on its site. “We are pro-truth, pro-balance and pro-responsible news. We invite brands and people to consider whether they want their adverts to appear next to hate and untruths.”
According to SFFN, The Federalist article that the group flagged was a June 3 opinion piece accusing the media of “lying” about the riots that took place amid the George Floyd protests, insisting that claim was false. However, it ended up being its comments section that jeopardized its involvement with Google’s ad platform. The Federalist co-founder Sean Davis said the comments sections have temporarily been shut down but vows they will return to the site.
MSNBC PRODUCER SLAMMED FOR TWEET TAKING TRUMP’S STANCE ON CHOKEHOLDS OUT OF CONTEXT
Adele-Momoko Fraser, the London-based NBC News journalist behind the controversial report, appears to have been a vocal Labour Party activist and has previously mocked the “idiocy of right wing American activists” and has a history of slamming President Trump.
Fraser, a producer of the little-known London-based “Verification Center” division of NBC News, raised eyebrows when she thanked SFFN and CCDH for “their hard work and collaboration” after her report was published.
She also included the Black Lives Matter hashtag, which she later removed when she rewrote the tweet.
NBC’S CRAIG MELVIN ASKS SEN. TIM SCOTT IF GOP IS ‘USING’ HIM AS ‘TOKEN’
On Tuesday evening, Fraser clarified, “we obtained this research exclusively from @SFFakeNews but we did not collaborate on the research itself.”
However, that seems to be contradicted by Ahmed. “Delighted that @SFFakeNews, working with @NBC_VC and @AMFraserNBC, has successfully persuaded @Google to stop ads appearing on Zero Hedge and The Federalist. @CCDHate’s biggest ever win,” the CCDH CEO wrote.
Both SFFN and Ahmed expressed outrage toward Google’s reversal on demonetizing The Federalist.
NBC NEWS SAYS IT WILL CAPITALIZE THE ‘B’ WHEN REFERRING TO BLACK PEOPLE
“Google must not give in to pressure, and stick to their decision to demonetise The Federalist. Everyone has the right to free speech. No one has the right to profit from hate. #DeFundRacism,” SFFN tweeted.
“Whatever happens next, the fact Google themselves profit from hate and misinformation and help others profit from it has been made clear to lots and lots of folks today. That’s my job. And I’m proud to do it,” Ahmed wrote.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP
He later tweeted, “Let’s be absolutely clear here. Google [admits] they have been monetising ‘derogatory content that promotes hatred, intolerance violence or discrimination.’ They then say they will stop doing so. And now they are spinning that they will not. This is a crisis of their own making.”
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]]>The post Activists sue Washington, DC mayor over ‘Black Lives Matter’ street mural appeared first on Virus Reports.
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]]>The post Black activists warn Biden: Don’t pick Klobuchar as VP appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>It’s not yet clear how much the opposition of activists matters to Biden. He’s made clear that the electoral politics of his pick matter less than choosing someone who can be a governing partner and step into the top job without worry.
But the vocal contingent of African American and Latino detractors — many of whom said they would prefer Biden to select a black woman as a running mate — is unique to Klobuchar; Elizabeth Warren, another top contender for VP, doesn’t elicit similar antagonism from communities of color.
“It comes from her performance in the primary — her weakness in being able to motivate them,” said Adrianne Shropshire, executive director of BlackPAC, who supports several potential vice presidential selections. “The engagement and the enthusiasm of black voters is going to be a difference-maker in this election, and the concerns about her in this role stem from the degree to which she resonated or not with those core constituencies.”
Earlier this week, Biden confirmed that “multiple black women [are] being considered” for vice president. Those often named include Sen. Kamala Harris, former Georgia gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams and Florida Rep. Val Demings. Other Midwestern options, like Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, have also been mentioned.
But for many of these operatives, Klobuchar symbolizes a strategic division within the Democratic Party: Whether to focus on winning back white, Midwestern voters who flipped to Donald Trump in 2016, or on activating voters of color who were not excited to vote. She “represents that tension,” said Rev. Al Sharpton, who said he’s told Biden that he would prefer a black woman on the ticket but noted he’s “not anti-Amy.”
“It is not her fault, but she is in the middle of an ongoing battle from the last few presidential races,” Sharpton continued, adding he would be “concerned” that selecting Klobuchar would not help energize black and brown voters.
In a Washington Post op-ed this month urging Biden to select a woman of color as VP, seven black strategists and activists called out Klobuchar, warning she would “only alienate black voters.”
“Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, does not need help winning white, working-class voters — he serves that function himself,” they wrote. Referring to her record as a chief prosecutor in Minneapolis, they added, “A choice such as Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), who failed to prosecute controversial police killings and is responsible for the imprisonment of Myon Burrell, will only alienate black voters.”
“If it was important enough to raise in an op-ed, it speaks to how serious we are,” LaTosha Brown, a co-founder of Black Voters Matter and the lead op-ed author, said in an interview. “Her campaign appeal was about bringing in working class, white people from the Midwest, and perhaps that’s true, but that’s a particular strategy that doesn’t align with what it’s going to take to win. You need to excite the base.”
Angela Rye, a Democratic strategist and the former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus, who also signed the op-ed, called Klobuchar a “non-starter.”
Klobuchar’s boosters counter that Donald Trump will drive out the Democratic base no matter what, and that the key Rust Belt states that Democrats have to win play to Klobuchar’s strengths.
“I think she could help put the upper Midwest in play, and that’s an invaluable asset,” said Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who backed Bernie Sanders during the presidential primary. He also noted that “there are a lot of black people” in the Midwest, in cities like Detroit and Milwaukee, who will also be key for Democrats in winning back those states.
“I think the base is going to be excited enough because, before, Trump was an idea, now Trump is the reality,” Ellison continued.
Klobuchar has been working to improve her relationships with minority activists and politicians since she dropped out of the presidential race. She endorsed a slate of racially and regionally diverse candidates in down-ballot races. She’s worked with Stacey Abrams, another VP contender, to promote a vote-by-mail bill, which was endorsed by Voto Latino and Rev. Jesse Jackson earlier this month. She also wrote a bill to expand broadband access to studddents at historically-black colleges and Hispanic-serving institutions. And she participating in a virtual town hall hosted by the NAACP on how the coronavirus is disproportionately hurting black and brown people.
During the presidential primary, Leah Daughtry, CEO of the DNC’s conventions in 2008 and 2016, hosted Klobuchar with a group of influential black women leaders, “half she knew, half she didn’t,” and “people walked away with a favorable impression.”
But, Daughtry noted, “building relationships in every area of our lives takes time, including in politics,” and “it isn’t something you can do in a matter of weeks.”
The primary results illustrate the Klobuchar’s failure among voters of color.
In South Carolina, she won 1 percent of black voters, even though they make up a majority of Democratic primary voters in the state. It was the lowest total for any of the presidential candidates on the ballot.
In Nevada, Klobuchar received 4 percent support of the Latino vote, the lowest share of any presidential candidate other than Rep. Tulsi Gabbard. Nationally, Klobuchar regularly polled in the low single digits among voters of color.
“Could she have done more? Absolutely,” said Antjuan Seawright, a South Carolina-based Democratic consultant. “But she knew where her bread was buttered, and that started in Iowa. She was taking the race as it comes.”
Seawright noted that Biden’s own strength in the black community — as evidenced by his resounding victory in South Carolina, which revived his flailing campaign — “gives room for the potential for Amy Klobuchar” as vice president.
But Biden, too, was recently warned about not taking African American voters for granted. On Friday, he apologized on a conference call with black leaders for comments he made to “The Breakfast Club” radio host: “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.”
Klobuchar’s prosecutorial record as Hennepin County attorney is another sore spot, particularly her handling of a case involving Burrell, a black teenager. An investigation by the Associated Press found numerous flaws in the case, and civil rights leaders in Minnesota called for her to suspend her presidential campaign.
Klobuchar called for an independent investigation after her campaign ended, a move applauded by the Minnesota NAACP.
If Biden picked Klobuchar as his vice president, “it would add to [his] workload” for the general election, said Daughtry, who signed on to another letter sent to Biden, urging the selection of a black woman.
“There are enough people who either A, don’t know her, or B, have a negative view of her that it becomes another thing the campaign has to do — introduce her and convince communities of color that she’s ok,” Daughtry said. “That’s not impossible, but there’s already a lot of work to do in a presidential race.”
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